Congratulations to Didi - didi-does-something - for having their following poem chosen for publication on Blank Canvas Post. The poem that follows is a truly wonderful exploration of the complexities of recklessness and the consequences of childlike invulnerability. Please read the follow conversation between us at Blank Canvas Post and Didi - didi-does-something - to understand more about the writer and the context for this brilliant poem.
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Writer Spotlight: Didi.
From London, UK, Didi - didi-does-something - has been writing stories and poems ever since childhood, and has been sharing them publicly since January 2026.
What was it that made you start writing?
Writing has always felt like a natural outlet to me. I come from a very creative family (my mum has always loved theatre and acting while my dad loves writing, and has written a book himself) we were always encouraged to pursue creative outlets in and outside of school. Aside from that I’ve had intensely vivid dreams from when I was younger, often blurring the lines between reality so it made sense to write them down and try to explore my imagination to see what else I have hiding there.
What experiences have you had that have shaped the writer you are today?
All of them. No, but seriously I think I’ve been affected by both big and small events in surprising ways. There is navigating the world as a British Nigerian woman, all of the books/poems I’ve read that’s stuck with me, my parents, role playing with my sisters, friends, music, dreams. There are so many experiences that have influenced the kind of person I have become that it’s hard to know which have made the most impact. I will say though that in the past few years making an effort to get into international writers and translated books has really revolutionised the way I approach language, especially seeing how creatively it can be used. It’s really challenged me to think more deeply about how I use language when writing.
What genres are you writing at the moment? What genres do you enjoy writing?
I’m currently writing a lot of reviews at the moment since I want to get better at engaging more thoughtfully with the media I consume, and also improve articulating my thoughts. It’s an important life skill, plus I think it will work wonders for being able to write fiction.
I’m also really into poetry which definitely cultivates a sense of precision and intentionality when writing.
My favourite genre to write in is magical realism and literary fiction so I can’t wait to delve into that area more deeply when I get into writing longer form works.
What inspires you to write? Where do you take your inspiration from?
I write because it feels natural to me. I’m usually inspired to write by things that interest me which is usually new experiences, or when seemingly mundane parts of my routine suddenly feel foreign to me.
What does your writing process look like (e.g., environment, tools, setting)?
I usually come up with ideas when I’m on the go, or off the back of a dream. This part is always a little more spontaneous and is usually accompanied by a long tangential internal monologue so I type out as much detail as I can about the idea into my notes app as soon as it hits me. This is typically on the walk home from the gym, or the train, or waking up after an immersive dream.
Refining the idea usually takes longer since I have to go back in to narrow down the idea and decide what direction it’s going in. I usually do this part in a cafe with my laptop and headphones on.
What do you envisage when you are writing something new? Are you writing with the intention of sharing your work, or are you simply writing to write, for example?
When I write it’s usually without thought of an end goal. It’s just an outlet that feels most natural to me, that I use to fulfil a whole host of different needs. At times it’s a really fun form of play for imagining what ifs, and imagining what reality could look like from different angles. In other times I use it to record impossibly complex and vivid dreams that I don’t want to forget, and in other moments when I feel certain moments or memories really intensely I can find a space to articulate these feelings in my own time.
At the moment of writing the idea at least I’m not really thinking about anything else, or a specific audience, refining the idea and deciding what medium it should take usually comes after.
Why do you think community is important for writers and creative people?
Community is vital for creation. Especially since our understanding of people, perspectives, and things feels directly connected to how well we can recreate and distil these experiences into our work. As someone who’s still trying to improve my writing I know how important it is to draw from inspiration, and consider perspectives outside of my own. That only feels possible by being part of a community, even better yet being in community with people who are also walking a similar journey to yourself. Also, I feel like being able to share earlier versions of your work can minimise avoidable mistakes and is good practice in being vulnerable.
Where do you currently share you work?
Substack for now.
Why did you submit your work to Blank Canvas Post? What drew you to our publication?
I came across a post asking for submissions for this publication and in the spirit of putting myself out there I decided to give it a go. I went through the publication posts and I found the interview style questions before reading the work to be an interesting format that somehow added extra context to what I was reading. It reminded me of my favourite podcast, Poetry Unbound, which has also massively helped how I read and engage with poetry, and fiction. Also, I liked the fact that that this was a publication that was open to everybody since that’s the kind of community that I would want to be a part of.
About the Poem: Sweet Tooth.
Regarding Sweet Tooth, what inspired you to write this piece?
Poetry is best enjoyed by listening to it, so I was mostly thinking about the sounds it would make. After writing a few lines I started thinking about my childhood and what younger me was doing around this time.
What is the context for this piece? What is the main feeling or message behind it?
This is a poem about nostalgia.
The main feeling I wanted to capture is rediscovering the recklessness and invulnerability of youth while also acknowledging that being younger also had its own unique set of anxieties even if they seem more comical in comparison. Sometimes I think wistfully back on the things I used to have but then I also remember that childhood nostalgia is a double edge sword. This poem showed that with confidence came a certain level of destructiveness and ignorance that made those traits possible. All in all, it feels more humorous to think back to what kids get up to, and compare how funny and over dramatic everything seemed back then.
What was the process of writing this piece like for you? What did this process look like?
I started writing this poem on the way home from the gym. It started off more as an exercise in using alliteration since I was listening to some poems and remembered how fun I found alliteration when I was younger. After writing the first line I went off on a bit of an internal tangent about sweets, which then transformed the topic of the poem to a specific memory of childhood.
I came back to it a few weeks later and decided to add the majority of the latter half of the poem since I wanted to expand it beyond one day, to a whole summer which felt like a lifetime back then while also filling out more details to give the poem a bit more dimension.
Why did you choose to submit this piece specifically to Blank Canvas Post?
I think this captured a very specific memory a feeling within my childhood (having a crazy sweet tooth myself), as well as the other subtle anxieties that still existed back then. I was curious to see how other people would relate to this.
So, without further ado, here is Sweet Tooth, a poem by Didi - didi-does-something.
Sweet Tooth, by Didi.
Licking buzzy bumbling honey off the backs of spoons beggaring belief that I was not sugar high Excited only by the capture of crystals on the tips of tongues calculating cavities Coming up compromised Dipping fingers like schools of fish into half congealed jars sticky and suckling nectar stolen from a cabinet draws stealthily cracked open. Summer came quickly, Dentists came quicker Discipline shackled taste testy tongues, bolted stubby fingers with the threats of drills, and antiseptic halls Numbed mouths Slackened jaws Paper straws Bared teeth that anxiously glinted in a bathroom mirror, primal and panting Enamel on enamel A mouth that gaped wider and wider to examine the hole left in a body of some black mark that was the epicentre of all this trouble Sugar became contraband Only procured under midnight raids, embezzled 50p funds from shop budgets passed from fingers to palm to pockets in that order and the sweet wrappers were silenced in paw like fists The black hole throbbed in ascent - a co-conspirator to the crime Waging war against restraint, and consequence
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Such a sweet poem