Millennial: a decade of dreams, nightmares and perspective

by Peter Bickerton

It has been a decade of great change for the United Kingdom and the world, especially for those living through their twenties as the recession of 2008 hit millennials with a triple student debt, lower wages and, finally, to add to climate change and the world's sixth mass extinction event being played out in front of our eyes, Brexit. This is the first collection of poems by internationally acclaimed performance poet Peter Bickerton, whose work has been commissioned for and featured on the BBC, as well as at festivals and events throughout the world, from Norwich to Amsterdam, Brazil and beyond. Through four dreams, nightmares, sinking and perspective, this collection documents the events of the last ten years, written by the author as he lived through his twenties - finishing university, finding a job, and working out his way in a rapidly changing world. Throughout a time of great personal change, the collection documents the hopes, fears, tears and frustrations of a millennial trying to forge a space in the 21st century, against a backdrop of great climatic and political uncertainty. All of the poems in this collection were written at a particular moment in time over the last decade, usually in response to the big news of the moment. Many of these poems have been performed in some form or another at events including the Thought for Food Global Summit and the One Young World Global Summit, as well as on television and radio in the UK, USA and Brazil.

70 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 18, 2019

About the author

Peter is the bard and resident poet of Thought for Food. His latest creation is a trippy adventure through space and soil, co-created with animation and the music of our microbial underworld.

His first collection, Millennial, recounts his experiences of being a twenty-something-year-old living through Brexit and a regime of Tory austerity. It's followed by "Thirty", a darkly humourous take on getting slightly older, ostensibly wiser, and certainly wider.

Peter's poetry has appeared on various international multimedia, including a commission for the BBC, and has been published several times in Ink Sweat and Tears. He also performs live, to rapturous applause and occasional consternation (it's the job of a poet to challenge our collective beliefs, I'd wager).

Reviews

[B Bickerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is as described. An eclectic mix of current and thought provoking poetry by an exciting new young poet.