Chocolate Poetry Club, a review

At Poetical, we’re a fairly simple bunch. We love poetry, we love chocolate, so it only stands to reason that we loved the Chocolate Poetry Club.

What is the Chocolate Poetry Club?

CPC (for short) is an ethically-run open mic night, held in Camden, London at the Camden Eye every third Monday of the month. There’s some incredible spoken word acts reflecting the diversity of London, and then everyone comes together and indulges in chocolate tasting at the end.

Ethically run?

Yes, that chocolate you taste at the end comes courtesy of Seed and Bean, a 100% ethical, organic and fairtrade chocolate company based right here in England. The winner of the open mic gets some of their chocolate as a prize, as well as the acclaim of the crowd, of course.

And then CPC sells special branded tote bags, made by artisans in India. The company behind it, re-wrap, helps empower socially and economically marginalised women with skills that will enable them to gain independence and live with dignity. And it’s all done organically and in a 100% environmentally friendly way too.

Oh, and CPC itself has just been formally registered as a community interest company.

That sounds great, and I love both chocolate and tote bags, but what is the poetry like?

Pretty great. The first half of the night is an open mic contest, voted on by the audience by a secret ballot. The winner gets to come back the next month and do a feature set. It’s a democracy that actually works. In March it was won by Just-Ori, who we had at our very own Poetical Party, and in April by Jamal Khan – so the pedigree is high. And then more open mic’ers in the second half.

Sounds right up my street. Are there any big name special performers?

CPC is different to a lot of poetry nights in that they aren’t looking for who has the most Instagram followers or views on Youtube. Instead the ‘feature performers’ are the CPC poets in residence – who are worth the admission fee alone. Paul Point presents it, alongside Saboteur Award nominated Miss Yankey. Then there are readings from Gboyega Odubanjo (read his poetry on our website here!), Shaun Rivers, Steve Tasane, and more. They’re all very good.

And how much is it?

£5 or £6 depending on how quick you are in getting them.

I think I might go. Where can I get tickets?

Check out their Facebook for tickets. And then have a look at them on Instagram, Twitter and their website. And if you’re on the fence, just have a look at all that chocolate they have. It’ll make your mind up for you.