Numbered Boxes, by Peter Bearder

Simply awful.

If you read my review on and then she ate him, you will know that I think that comedic poetry is best read aloud. Numbered Boxes by Peter Bearder is no exception to that rule. In reading, the poetry was cringy, unimaginative, and at times felt lazy. I was lucky enough to attend Peter Bearder’s talk titled Homer to Hip Hop; a brief history of spoken word poetry. Peter was charismatic and a natural performer. The content of his lecture was fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, although I haven’t seen him perform his poetry, I imagine it is reliant on all of his performative characteristics. Especially the last section to his collection titled, Poems for Glastonbury, were clearly written to be performed. The Denbigh, Bearder, and Tempest collections I have written on do pose interesting comparisons between poetry made for the written and spoken medium. I touch more upon this in my article Lyrics vs Poetry, discussing the nuances between the two genres, ones that can apply to these written texts, available to read on this website.

If you want to learn more about Peter Bearder, I suggest you head to his website and Instagram to gain his full performance, opposed to being disappointed by his written poetry.

Written by Stephanie Ornithari Roberts