Theatre Factory is delighted to work with Barrow writer Michael J Hudson on his debut poetry collection Indigo.
‍Launched this week at Cooke’s Studios, it includes themes of nature, place, space, love, hope and loss.
Michael first began to develop his poetry skills while attending Writers’ Workshops here at Theatre Factory five-years-ago. 
The sessions helped plant the seed of writing which culminates in this collection of works. They also gave Michael confidence to take his work to an audience. 
We sat down with Michael to discuss his writing, inspirations and what it means to see his words in print.

Tell me how Barrow inspires you

‍Michael: I was born in this lovely town Barrow-in-Furness and thus far have never lived anywhere else, be out of circumstance or choosing. 
This town inspires me in a multiplicity of ways; we have a wide variety of different landscapes from the tantalising vistas of the lakes, rich sandstone hailing from the inceptive boom years of Victorian Barrow, to the sprawling, glorious beaches on our doorstep.

Barrow offers many areas and conjured images from which I derive my poetic inspiration, although contrarily sometimes, as is evidenced in my debut collection Indigo, a sizeable proportion of my work stems from a creative and vivid imagination, as well as an introspective lens on oneself which I think is a crucial anchor for being an analytical yet earnest poet.

When did you first become interested in poetry?‍

Michael: I’ve had a love for words since I was very young. Unashamedly one activity that I engaged in at secondary school was looking through thesauruses to expand my vocabulary and incorporate the latest word of the day in extended writing activities where possible. 
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Retrospectively this has provided me with some of my vocabulary base that I still employ to this day in my work. 

For me English in general soon became my favourite subject particularly during my GCSE years as poetry was a staple feature of the subject’s curriculum, I enjoyed the process of critically examining and studying both contemporary and pre-1914 poetry- with the lines of Ben Jonson in his ode to his son ‘Farewell thou child of my right and joy, my sin was too much hope of thee loved boy’, standout lines that still reverberate around my head, his lamentations at losing his son as well as the poignancy and pull of his choice words, making the sense of grief palpable. 

This poem and other notable others was the reason I became hooked on poetry reading as a means of conveying strong emotion in such an eloquent and importantly oftentimes veiled manner, appreciating the verbal artistry and thoughtfulness as well that permeates through such pieces. 

I suppose this was really the genesis of my fascination with poetry although it was significantly later on that I began committing pen to paper and writing poetry of my very own.

Your writing creativity really took off during covid?

Michael: Yes. It was early May in 2020, under a balmy endlessly changing skyscape at near dusk, when I decided to sit down at my computer table, window ajar with mind overflowing and, relying on observative and descriptive power as my starting points, as I set upon tracking the dance and fluctuation of the night. 

This halcyon moment of inspiration set a chain reaction of productivity so far as my writing was concerned as in the days, weeks and months hence I would write three binders full of new work, with this one night of high-thinking ending up being one of my space poems included in this anthology, see if you can spot which one!

What does it mean to you to write?

Michael: Writing poetry is a catharsis insomuch as during quiet moments it helps me calm and unwind by offering a colourful and expressive endeavour amongst the mundanity and grind of life. 

It offers personal reflectivity, conveying and capturing the unsaid whilst still fresh and tapping into the furthest reaches of my mind both as a way to stretch and challenge myself, as well as logging thoughts in adynamic format.  

Overall though, I believe poetry brings beauty to the greyscale facets of our existence. To find and connect with poetry and writing my very own is one of the greatest finds of my life, and why I’m so proud of my debut collection.  

What did the writers workshops mean to you?‍

Michael: The writers workshops meant that I could meet and learn from like-minded people, who came from different backgrounds, of different ages, illustrating that poetry is truly an all-encompassing, universal pastime. 

Furthermore, they offered me a chance to explore and work on different themes such as environmental and futurist poems as covered by a community writers workshop delivered by Cumbrian poet Ann Grant.

One outstanding materialisation of the workshops, was that it gave me the impetus to read out my own material at poetry nights. This was an entirely new situation, a point where all the metaphorical walls were broken down, as you were stripped of the mask as you perform as your authentic self.

How does it feel to publish your first poetry collection?

Michael: It’s a whirlwind of emotion, admittedly a mixture of slight interim tension now as I eagerly await the launch night of my debut poetry collection. But, fore mostly, a feeling of overriding joy and pride.  

On a personal level, it’s also historic as it is a tangible piece of literature that I can look back on during the course of life with a sense of achievement at the fact I am a published author, hopefully a springboard of plenty more to come in the future.

There is also relief. A great understanding that weight has been lifted  for the most part as soon as I caught glimpse of the final product, as this has been a five-year process from writing the initial contributory poem back in 2020 to the final concerted edit of the body of work only a few months ago, a lot of time-consuming, hidden and underestimated phases of making Indigo a mere vision into reality.

Tell us about the Themes in Indigo

Michael: The anthology is broken down into the respective sections of Nature, Places, Love, Hope and Loss, Space and Fantasy and Internal Dialogue.  

In Nature I pay homage to the four seasons in addition to Mother Earth’s inhabitants. What I hope shines through to the reader is our world’s innate gorgeousness whether that be through the explosive proliferation of colour on an autumn day or through the fiery promise of an awakening Earth of Spring as life cycles back round again.  

Places was Barrow-in-Furness and the Furness Peninsula centric, a real love letter to the areas I frequent as my work either attunes to my feelings attached to that given place at the precise time of penning the poem, a dedication to an area where my past inexorably blurs with the present or in the instance of ‘An Ode to Barrow-in-Furness’ my summative interpretation of the town where I was born.   

Love, Hope and Loss strikes upon the most emotionally charged aspects of the human condition, it is a section that is my way of dealing with complete polar opposites in love and loss, the mesmeric to the tragic. 

A distinction is necessary here in respect of each as I prolifically explored all angles of what it means to experience love or indeed undergo loss, not just the prescriptive and automatic formulations of each concept.

Hope filters in by way of reinforcing how no matter how tough, fraught or burdensome one’s circumstances might be, it is rarely intransient, with hope the charging force that makes the core of life itself worthwhile. 

Internal Dialogue is the concluding section of the book and is the theme where I was most barren and clear-cut with myself, as I worked to best represent myself in a transparent, candid fashion, speaking from the heart and from a position of inner truth.

If I had to choose my favourite section, it would be Space and Fantasy, part 4 of Indigo. As within this section I really delved into the greater unknown and allowed my mind to wander unabatedly, unravelling all the possibilities the thick starlit canvas above our terrestrial home can offer both as a sense of reassurance but also foreboding.

What next for you and your writing?

Michael: My creative spark will continue burning undiminished. Writing-wise in the future I hope to further develop and refine my work, to push on with attending many more writing workshops, open mics etc.

I may even look into writing children’s books in the longer-term as I have a young Niece and Nephew of whom I hope will become inspired by the power of words in some meaningful capacity, their boundless verve and imagination no doubt will become stimulus for my own writing in this context. 

For my poetry, I have lots of completed as yet unpublished original work in the pipeline, that I have parked for future releases as I am very keen for a follow-up to Indigo.

In any case I feel my world is not devoid of colour, especially when I feel the light of illuminating promise and inspiration.

Theatre Factory’s Writers’ Group meets on the first Thursday of each month.

Details here: https://www.theatrefactory.org/event/writers-group

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