Taking the less-than-flattering public perception of a poet and spinning it on its head, door-to-door poet Rowan McCabe is an interesting, and modern, variant of what it means to be somebody who identifies as a poet. 

Mixing his gentile, wide-eyed, persona with the interesting social commentary style of rock/soul/funk greats John Cooper Clarke and Gil Scott-Heron, McCabe’s poetry is an interesting blend of glass-half-full optimism aligned with deep cultural insights and perceptions about changing times.  

Set within the general narrative of McCabe’s 2019 tour of Britain, Door-to-door poetry: Nationwide is a clever vehicle to showcase McCabe’s poetry as he tells his story of travelling the British Isles as a door-to-door poet and finding out about the secrets of strangers.  Exploring various cultural and regional divides within Britain, including North V South, Past v Present, Haves v Have-nots, McCabe’s stories and poems, all told in a range of different aesthetics, rhythms and characters are equally funny and heart wrenching. 

Funny, fully engaged, and seemingly having the time of his life on stage, McCabe is perfect as a storyteller/poet beckoning you to look for the silver linings in life and to think about poetry in a different way to what tradition would suggest.