Cabinet of Curiosities: Spicy Brain, Garden-Poem-Era Wisdom, and Being a Smartass with Hannah Chutzpah

Loved chatting all things poetry, mental health, and artsy with the one and only Hannah Chutzpah. An icon on the spoken word scene, Hannah is a performance poet and writer with three collections of poetry out – most recently Permeable published by Burning Eye Books. Her poetry is funny, feminist and often heartfelt. On a number of occasions it has made people cry. Apparently in a good way. Hannah is a left-handed, left-wing smartass with intersectional activist leanings, spoons allowing. She has been described as ‘fine’ by three therapists, as ‘of good character’ by a high court judge, and as a ‘potential maggot-thrower’ by the Metropolitan police. 

 

Follow her:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HannahChutzpah

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hannah_Chutzpah

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannah_chutzpah/

Website: https://hannahchutzpah.com/

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https://dragonsoflondon.org/

dragontwitchers@gmail.com

 

Below is the poem Hannah shared, as well as a brief summary of what we talked about for the first 30 minutes (thank you, Otter AI free version). If anyone wants to buy me the full version so I can provide a full transcript, you can do so at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dragongeorge 

 

Recipe

 

Quick and easy label-free _____

 

This recipe is one of my favourites for when someone pops over with the best of intentions and asks why I need to ‘limit’ myself with all these zany ‘labels’. I’ve whipped this up for all kinds of occasions: queer, disabled, ADHD, dual national, multi-faith, you name it!

 

This has been passed down in my family for generations by people who found life that bit more difficult but didn’t know why. Hope you like it! Tell us how you get on in the comments and let us know if you’ve given it any new twists. Don’t forget to rate & subscribe! Xoxo

 

Ingredients

50g _____

1 medium _____, finely chopped

3 _____

¼ tsp _____

2 fresh _____ leaves (or 1 dried)

450g _____

1 litre/1¾ pints __stock__ [chicken stock/stock photo/stock options]

750g smoked _____ fillet

3 _____

3 tbsp chopped fresh _____

1 _____, cut into wedges, to garnish

 

Method

STEP 1        Melt 50g _____ in a saucepan, add 1 finely chopped medium _____ and cook gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned.

 

STEP 2        Stir in 3 of the _____, ¼ tsp _____, and 2 _____ leaves, then cook for 1 minute. The guesses you fill in can’t help but be generic: butter, onion, straight, white, able-bodied.

 

STEP 3        Tip in 450 g _____ and stir until it is all well coated in the sorry, I didn’t see you there.

 

STEP 4        Pour in 1 litre __stock__ [chicken stock/stock photo/stock options], add ½ teaspoon _____ and bring to the boil, stir once to release any overcompensating from the bottom of the pan. Cover with a _____, reduce the heat to a low and rueful smile.

 

STEP 5        Meanwhile, bring some it was just a joke to the boil in a large shallow pan. Add 750g _____ and not trying hard enough. Simmer for 4 minutes, until reasonable adjustments or a performance review. Lift it out onto a _____ and leave until the emotions are cool enough to handle.

 

STEP 6        Hard-boil 3 _____ for 8 minutes. You are allowed to bring a union representative with you for this stage if you wish.

 

STEP 7        Flake the _____, discarding any lived experience, _____, their current partners or any new-fangled rubbish they’ve found on the internet. ‘Normality’ perpetuates itself like a racist algorithm. Drain the _____, cool slightly, then peel and chop.

 

STEP 8        Uncover the _____ and remove anything that doesn’t sound right to you. Gently fork in the explanations you’ve arrived at yourself: weird, over-sensitive, lazy, naughty, stupid, attention-seeking. Cover again and return to heat until the _____ has heated through.

 

STEP 9        Gently stir in almost all the 3 tbsp _____, and season with a little shame to taste. Serve scattered with the remaining _____ and garnished with 1 gosh you can’t say anything these days, cut into wedges.

 

STEP 10       Invite your guests to season with sugar or salt. Don’t limit yourselves! They’re all edible crystals. It’s all food. Keep flattening nuance until you don’t know your _____ from your _____ and no one has the _____ to say why the _____ doesn’t taste right. 

 

 

SUMMARY

• Rebecca does all the technical side of things and I hopefully read the book of the month. (0:00)
• Introducing Hannah Chutzpah. (1:10)
• How to deal with the external world when you have ADHD. (4:53)
• What it was like to get a referral from her GP. (9:14)
• What’s it like to have an ADHD diagnosis? (11:48)
• Getting a diagnosis gives you a reason to understand yourself. (16:58)
• Do you find that there is much prejudice and sexism in the art scene? (22:06)
• The genre expectation that spoken word poets share traumatic and vulnerable parts of themselves. (25:15)
• Don’t do that winning advice. (31:00)
• People like to think they’ve won because they said it really well. (36:45)