Donald Jenkins
is an award-winning poet, producer, and rapper based in Newcastle, UK.
He hosts events such as
Born Lippy and Slam Fresh, facilitates workshops, and writes for publications.
All in all, he’s geet canny.
Writing
Get your words worth.
Are you looking for a writer who can:
– Help you shout about the artistic work that you are making?
– Create content that will tingle the senses of audiences you want to entice?
Specialising in poetry, music, contemporary and traditional dance I write and pitch articles for publication:
- Event previews and review
- Artist interviews and features
- Website content
Get in touch to find out more.
Bad Boy Chiller Crew Preview
Bradford’s finest export-The Bad Boy Chiller Crew land at the Middlesborough Empire for a night of club-charged anthems, tongue-in-cheek lyricism, and addictive basslines.
End of Orchestras Feature
As Northern Ballet announces cuts to live music from some of its shows, what is the future for the art form? Donald Jenkins reflects.
Beauty and the Beast Review
A contemporary yet vintage take on fairy tales has never been more magically reimagined than by Northern Ballet’s adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
James Wilton Feature
Using an exciting range of experiences and physicality including martial arts, athletics and folklore, this company of dancers are constantly in pursuit of finding new things to do with the body.
Hijikata, Mon Amour Review
Crafting its shape, unfolding its story, ‘Hijikata, Mon Amour’ is a contemporary solo piece of experimental Butoh that focuses on the splendour of puppeteering and dancing with a costume.
Poetry
Donald Jenkins is a spoken word poet and rapper from Newcastle upon Tyne. He loves to rant and rhyme with high energy performances about giant onion bhajis, serial killer poets and his addiction to rave music.
State of the Art
This is poetic call to action I made about the impact the Pandemic had on cultural venues.
Say it Loud
Sat in a hipster eatery at the Monument,
grazing on a poke bowl with edamame beans,
the dwindling noise of a city centre protest
plays out in front of us.
Stories of the Stones
These poems are part of a Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust funded project to celebrate the lives of people buried at St John’s & Westgate Cemeteries in the Westend of Newcastle. Working alongside residents of the area, I have written poems about their friends, family and ancestors who have been laid to rest in these two sites.
Not Just an Epitaph
There is – a stone that connects me to a place I never lived,
stories with nostalgia from a childhood that wasn’t mine,
fairytales that were told, my eyes feel they didn’t dream,
heroes I have met who were gone before I learnt to breathe.
Who is He to Me?
I thought dad’s arm only cared for one thing –
downing Broon, sinking pints of Exhibition,
repetitive strains from lifting loopy juice
that weighed us down, again and again.
She Will Always Be a Traveller
The amplified chime of Greensleeves fills the estate,
pricking up the ears of every child within a half mile,
like excitable metal detectors who’ve located some treasure,
we scurry along back lanes to claim our prize.