Luke Baker (part 1)

Speaker 1 00:02

This is a Vision Australia Radio podcast.

Speaker 2 00:18

On Vision Australia Radio, welcome to our conversations on the work and experiences of emerging writers. I'm Kay Cooper and our guest on today's program is Luke Baker. Spoken word poet, emerging freelance creative and convener of the fortnightly Write On Time writing workshops and the monthly poetry sharing group Not So Spontaneous Poetry Catch-Up. Luke runs poetry workshops both independently and in association with Spoken Word SA, a wonderful organisation that we featured previously on this program. Luke's website, and will give our listeners the address during our conversation, tells us that his growing body of work as an artist includes poetry, experimental writing, photography, spoken word performance and acting.

He has been the feature poet at many Adelaide spoken word events, invited poet for charity events, has performed his poetry on radio and has also performed in the 2024 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Luke's poetry has been published by Friendly Street Poets and in his self -published experimental works Sporadic and Some Dude and His Mum's Typewriter. Luke is also an anthropologist, social researcher, mental health advocate, photographer, rock climber and the person who posts the monthly poetry event guides on Facebook. In May 2024, Luke performs some of his rap and reflective poetry at the inaugural Poetry at the Port event, which is being held on the second Thursday of each month at Millage's distillery in Port Adelaide and is where we caught up.

Welcome to the program Luke we have a lot to talk about. I'm going to begin with a question that I've asked other poets on this program. Would you tell us about your earliest memories of working creatively?

Speaker 3 02:26

Thanks, Kate. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening, everyone. Basically, my earliest memories, I took this question in two ways. The earliest time I remember doing something substantially creative and the time I focused on work, the first time I got paid for a creative work. So the first time I was doing something creative was when I was about 18, 19, 20, even, I started playing guitar and I started writing my own songs and singing and doing those kinds of creative things, which I don't do enough now, but still involve myself musically.

And the time when I was first paid to do something creative was my first feature poetry spot at Port Adelaide, which was an event which is no longer on anymore, but sadly. But yeah, that was my first time being paid to perform my poetry, which was really wonderful. It gave a sense of legitimacy and boosted my confidence when I needed some boosting in my confidence. So, yeah.

Speaker 2 03:44

And as we mentioned in the introduction, you're a spoken word poet who performs at poetry events around Adelaide. What inspired you to first start performing your poetry at spoken word events?

Speaker 3 03:57

There was a time when I was writing for about maybe a year or two, just straight writing, and before I knew I had a whole bunch of poems when I was writing them, I didn't really think, oh, I'm going to write some poetry now. I just began writing and I got curious about spoken word. The only interactions or knowledge I had of spoken word was maybe some videos on YouTube, usually American people performing spoken word. And I started watching some videos and I started thinking, well, that's pretty cool. And I wondered to myself, is there any spoken word things in Adelaide? And so I googled and I found advertisement for the poetry slam run by spoken word essay, and I went to it and I had no intention of reading my work.

Of course, I was too shy at that point and I just listened. I was an audience member. And I think I ended up being one of the judges to score. So that was interesting. And I was so in awe of the performances and I felt emotions. I felt things and I was just inspired by the performers. And from then on, I had it in my head that I want to try something like that. I want to just do it once even. And I gave myself that challenge and I started going to the next one and the next one. I went to a couple before I even really got the nerve to get up and perform one of my poems. But yeah, I had people help me, nudge me. The spoken word community is so friendly that you go there not knowing anyone.

By the end of the night, you know some people and someone's poked you on the shoulder and said, oh, are you going to read? Are you going to read? And they just encourage you. And I got encouragement and I was able to read something. And from then on, I've not stopped.

Speaker 2 06:10

And we were talking before we came on air about how there are open mic events and the poetry slams which are more like competitions. So there are different types of poetry events around Adelaide.

Speaker 3 06:24

Yeah, exactly. The slams have a more competitive feel, even though it's all about sharing our creations, but there's a certain level of stakes that come with it because you can win something, you can go to the finals, and even if you go all the way through the finals, you get a chance to go to the Sydney Opera House and perform. So that's a big deal, and you get publishing and publishing opportunities and things like that.

Speaker 2 06:56

We also mentioned in the introduction that you perform both reflective and rap poetry two quite different styles. Would you tell us first about what rap enables you to do as a poet?

Speaker 3 07:10

Yes, I love this question actually, because rap was not something I started doing early on. It came later. Rap enables me to have a lot more fun with the sounds and the words, and it also gives me a persona. I remember the first time I performed a rap, I went more into character, because I think sometimes I use in the early stages, not so much now, but I was using characters to develop my confidence. So I felt that I couldn't be confident on the stage, but if I was pretending to be another person, something with a bit of humor, then I can do it.

Speaker 3 08:00

And yeah, I remember my first rap was a bit rough around the edges, but I did it. And then the next time you do it, it becomes better and better and the nerves start to lessen. But yeah, rap is all about the rhythm, the beat, the sound connections, the quick rhymes, the slow rhymes, enables you to have way more fun with some of the sounds you produce, and there's less pressure to write something. So pull your heart out kind of material, you can be fun with it. And it's also so impressive. Not just talking about myself, I'm inspired by rappers. I've been lucky enough to see some of the local rappers come through the Poetry Nights.

I've been to one or two underground rap freestyle events, where people just... It's an amazing event if you've ever had a chance to go to one. There's just people all around in a circle passing the microphone around, and they're all like bopping to the music and freestyle rapping. That's something I have not yet done, but I'm intrigued to be able to freestyle rap, come up with things on the spot. That's such a talent and inspiration. Yeah.

Speaker 2 09:26

That would be really difficult.

Speaker 3 09:28

Mm-hmm. I I have to do a lot of trial and error with coming up with raps. So there's a lot of repetition. There's a lot of sounds that are not even words when I'm trying to come up with it. I force myself to continue making sounds along with the beat and Whatever happens happens and then I go back I repeat I'm like, maybe I'll listen to a song and I'll repeat the song over and over again and then eventually you filter out the sounds and you get words and you just put them together

Speaker 2 10:05

And I guess too, you're memorising when you perform so that you've got to really internalise that beat and also the words.

Speaker 3 10:15

Yes, internalising the beat until it becomes a second nature type of thing. Yeah, because the beat is it's just another layer where people can hold on to the rhythm of your speech, whether it be performing or even just in your everyday speech. There's pauses, there's longer words, there's shorter words, you know, you got to experiment with your expression. People want to listen to something interesting and capturing and holding people's attention is a really powerful craft. And I've loved this term that I've heard thrown around that we are in an attention economy right now. And if you can hold someone's attention, well, yeah, you've got something good there. So yeah.

Speaker 2 11:08

Luke, would you perform one of your rap poems for us now?

Speaker 3 11:12

Yes I'd love to. I'll stand up for it. So this is the one I performed when we met at Port Adelaide. Now I'm calling this A Silly Little Thread from my Head. 

Spousal arousal is something of a mouthful. Blah blah blah blah blah now I am without you. The name of your mother. Do you keep it undercover? Is it one or the other? Do you run from your lover? Do you shun one another? Have fun cleaning gutters emphatically muttering utterly ridiculous words. I splatter and clutter each and every verse. I guess it could have been worse. I could have needed a nurse. If I keep on blurting these words they're gonna put me in emergency. See I'm a rapper with an urgency. Yeah I was born in a country that is girt by sea but I don't mess with nationality. Nah I'm a bee living in a world that's free. Gotta cut out all the lines and just merge with me. 

Merge with me. Come on baby girl have a flirt with me. Search with me. Hurt me. Can we get a little more wordy please? Murder me. With your extensive vocabulary we could have an expensive imaginary wedding. Eventually magical leisurely as sweet as confectionery. With a heart as heavy as every love you never regretted but you try to forget. Can you hear the fanatics when I said these words are unedited? I've never felt so connected. Never been so affected. Please correct my negligence when my mind is in decadence. Now all of these words that I've bled because I pulled a silly little thread from my head. Well I'm never content with the words that I read but I read them to you. I hope you read yours too.

Speaker 2 13:15

On Vision Australia Radio you're listening to our conversation program Emerging Writers. Our guest today is Luke Baker, spoken word poet, emerging freelance creative, convener of poetry and writing workshops, anthropologist, social researcher, mental health advocate, photographer, and rock climber. I mentioned before about how you perform without reading and you've just done that here in the studio and I saw you do that at the Poetry at the Port event. So how hard is it to actually remember your poems for a performance and keep that beat going?

Speaker 3 13:57

Well, it's it's hard to get to that point, but once you're at that point, it's easy, easy with a caveat, you know, you can still mess it up. It's a funny thing performing, you need the ability to block out, but at the same time be connecting with the audience. So there's this really interesting interplay between focusing on what you're doing and also focusing on listening and connecting with the audience, which, you know, when you can see them in front of you, I'm a bit more used to that. When it comes to recording, I'm almost having to visualise people listening. 

And yeah, but it's all about practice. And I mean, like obsessive practice. When I first wrote that piece, I really obsessed over trying to memorise it. Just because I was, in a sense, I was addicted to it. And I wanted to get it right in its full form. And once I did that, by the time I did that, I had memorised it. So yeah, you have to be conscious about doing it. If you want to memorise something, of course, you have to decide, I want to memorise this and then you have to recite it. Maybe morning and night, every day until you get it down packed. And I don't mean just reading it because reading it, you're not forcing your brain to memorise. You have to force your brain to memorise, which means making mistakes, which means forgetting it ironically. Read it, but make sure you, if you're practicing memorising, make sure you look away from the text.

If you're reading it, of course, you're going to read it. When you're just learning, but look away, put the phone or paper down wherever it is and force your brain to bring forth the next line. You might want to look at the next word for the next line, but then look away and let the words come to you. And performing it off memory is a whole other thing. It's very scary when you're deciding I'm going to perform this from memory, but it gives that next level of impact. I've noticed that when I see someone perform from memory, all of a sudden you're just completely wowed and I wanted to do that. So yeah, I've started practicing and I have some in my repertoire now.

Speaker 2 16:33

And, Luke, you also write reflective poetry, which you've performed. So what makes you at times switch from rap to a more free-form style? And what creative scope does that give you?

Speaker 3 16:47

That is my mainstay. My staple is more reflective pieces. I write really all kinds of styles. I think my style is largely uncategorised. I like that. I like to keep people guessing. I like tricking my audience. I often write pieces directly for the audience to trick them. But the reflective pieces are more moments, thoughts, an emotion that I need to explore in myself that sort of come to me either triggered by an external thing, or something internal that arises in me, and that I just have to sit with the moment. And yeah, reflective. It's an interesting word to put to it. I have these pieces that are largely based upon my thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts, you know, talking to yourself or writing a poem. It's like, what's the difference almost?

If you write a poem, no one's going to call you crazy. So yeah, write a poem or just talk to yourself. It doesn't matter. Reflection, yeah, can be on many things. And I use a lot of writing for self-reflection and understanding who I am, what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking about the world or something like that. Yeah. So my style, it enables me to grow and know myself or other people to empathise. And it serves that sort of more, I guess, more of a serious purpose. And the rap is arguably as serious because I feel that it's spreading a joy in the world.

You know, when I rap, I try to make it funny and enjoyable and entertaining. And I'm really leaning into that more these days, entertaining people and bringing joy. I've used poetry to help me heal and understand myself. And I still continue to do that. But I reflect and I think what do I want to spread in the world is joy.

Speaker 2 19:04

Would you perform one of your reflective poems for us now?

Speaker 3 19:08

Yes I will. So I wrote this when I went for a walk around my local park areas and just looking at the trees and really looking at the trees and yeah. So it's called Oh Great Tree Spirit. 

Oh Great Tree Spirit, do I envy your being, your age, your wisdom, your grounded contemplating? Or do I pity you in your ancient suffering, muffled by the world and all its muttering? Both one and the same I suppose? How deep must a root really go for a tree to know what it knows? Seeping sap blood pulled and hardened on your barkless body like a frozen flood. Limbs looted by chainsaw men, smooth flat rings, an abrupt end to undulations, twists and bends. Broken branches now perched by birds where you grew too far and by wind you learnt that even your sturdy limbs can lose their nerve. Fallen foliage by a breeze that blew or galahs that chewed. 

How many leafy friends have you made each and every time you grew? How many did you say goodbye to? Oh Great Tree Spirit, do I envy your being, your age, your wisdom? Or do I pity you in your ancient suffering? There's both one and the same I suppose, for there is no tree that knows something without having lost something.

Speaker 2 21:15

That's lovely. I like the way that you take something that's every day like a tree and think about its story, its history, what's gone on around it, what the tree has been a witness to. It's a lovely way of perceiving beyond the every day to the stories that sit behind what surrounds us in our lives.

Speaker 3 21:42

Yeah, that's what I do, yeah.

Speaker 2 21:47

And look, how do your experiences of performing your poetry influence the way you create your work, whether it's a rap poem or a more reflective poem?

Speaker 3 21:58

The performance aspect influencing my writing. Yeah, it definitely has an influence that can be either perceivable or not. For example, sometimes I will write with the intention that I am going to perform it. So it's a real performance piece where it might not even make sense if you read it on the page, because there are certain things that I will be doing with the audience or with my body or something that is all about it performing. So yeah, I've even done dressing up as characters, character work for my poetry. I feel that gives extra layers to the performance and intrigue and yeah, holding people's attention again. So writing for an audience, you start to think about certain impacts.

There's tonality, that is physicality, that is certain connection with audience members looking. I've even done a piece which has no words, a couple of pieces actually. One was a very spontaneous kind of piece and the other was really planned, a mime. So I have this piece where I use a harmonica to sort of serenade the actions, which is a story of someone walking along and different things happening. And it has a meaning, but there's no words and I love that. I love playing with different ways of expression like that. Yeah. And there's other pieces where I just, certain words might relate to the page much better, but when you're writing for the audience, you have a certain way of writing that's going to be different. Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:59

You mentioned the harmonica before and earlier in our conversation you talked about performing as a musician. How do you think being a musician and understanding music and the structure of music helps you as a poet?

Speaker 3 24:14

That's a good question, but I will. I don't know if I'll call myself a musician. I'm musically inclined, for sure. I've never been properly trained. I'm really self-taught. As I said, I learned to play guitar when I was young, string a few chords together so that I could sing along or I eventually started writing my own songs. And the musicality that has lent itself to the poetry performances because there's a certain rhythm with speaking a poem that's not your everyday speech. It is music, and that really sings to the soul. When I see anyone on the stage do something a little bit more musically inclined, even a little bit, I mean, you get people singing on the stage, performing music, if you're lucky enough, at these open mics. So when that happens, I just melt away. I love it. And that's something I want to do a bit more of because I haven't really done much musicality.

Speaker 2 25:24

Look, I'm really enjoying our conversation, so let's continue with part two in next week's program. But before we finish today, would you perform another of your spoken word poems for us?

Speaker 3 25:36

Yes, this one I've got prepared is a character-based one, so normally I would dress up as this character that I call Liam who is my long-lost twin. So this character leans into a sort of disassociation with reality. He wears very ragged clothes and he'll come into the audience and wander around and you might not think he's all there and then he'll perform this piece. So with that in mind this piece is called Distill.

Distill every word ever written into one and every life ever lived into none. Compress every song ever sung into a noise and every dance ever danced into a single step of poise. Feel the pull of progression, starve the hungering regression, run toward the grave and away from the womb. Either way we'll all end up there or too soon. And would you rather live your whole life than tell me about it in four minutes or less or live with me completely for four minutes and tell no one. Put your phone down, stop scrolling through the one word and speak it.

How deeply can we connect, fulfill my deepness. I will never be able to look into my own real eye, do it for me please. I keep trying to see myself but all I see are selfies and narcissistic tendencies. I love myself but I will never be able to look into my own eye. How ironic that I could say the same for you. And if I export to express then we won't have to make eye contact. Unless art is just that, an artist trying to make eye contact with themselves.

Do you see them? Hello? Do you hear me? Well speak to me. Why are you all just sitting there? Listening to me. Is this all just for your amusement? I am not a frequency in the air. I am not a bodyless voice in the ether. I am a human being. See me, feel me, hear me. Thank you.

Speaker 2 28:39

Thank you so much, Luke. Our guest on Emerging Writers today was Luke Baker, spoken word poet, emerging freelance creative, convener of poetry and writing workshops, anthropologist, social researcher, mental health advocate, photographer and rock climber.

This program is produced in our Adelaide studios and can be heard at the same time each week here on Vision Australia Radio, VA Radio on Digital, online at varadio.org and also on Vision Australia Radio podcasts, where you can catch up on earlier episodes. Thanks for listening to this Vision Australia Radio Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Visit varadio.org for more.

Speaker 2 29:42

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