About this Book

Written with wit, technical skill and a personalised knowledge of the subject matter, SHTUM explores the vagaries of stammering not just as a communication blockage but also other aspects such as stigma, bullying, isolation and avoidance. David Bateman's unusual poetry collection also follows the therapeutic experience - both successful and otherwise, combining a lightness of touch with a deep intensity. The poems come from several surprising angles - not the least of which is the proposal of marketing the stammer as a luxury item.

DAVID BATEMAN is a Liverpool poet and well-known poetic activist on the Merseyside cultural scene. His previous hilarious and absurdist collection of verse, The Curse of the Killer Hedge was published by IRON Press and went to a second print. David has been a lifelong stutterer.

Extract from: Shtum

I've got this stutter.

Tend to squawk when I mutter.

My words cut like a blade

of grass through frozen butter.

I stick and I splutter

on every sentence I utter.

The spoken word's an open world

beyond a locked-up shutter.

Extract from: It's Hard to be Suave with a Stutter

For it's hard to be suave with a stutter:

It's hard to be a dashing sort of dude.

All the spitting and the snorting

At the dEbutante you're courting

Can tend to dampen something of the mood.

I dream of being slick and glib with stardust on my tongue:

The grandest MC yet to grace the room,

With streams of words that scintillate like fireflies in the dusk,

A subtle bouquet bursting into bloom.

But it's hard to be suave with a stutter:

It's hard to be a jaunty sort of gent.

When your very best oration

Has no words, just punctuation,

It can slightly sap the zest from the event.