Congratulations and a hearty slap on the back to Belfast poet and rap artist Seamus Fox for winning the All-Ireland Poetry Slam Championship Finals in Galway this week. If his recent form is anything to go by then the accolade is certainly well-deserved and long-overdue.

I’ve seen the guy perform twice at ‘open mike’ sessions in Belfast this year and I can confidently predict that he is going places way beyond the pubs and clubs of the Galway Gaeltacht.

In fact, if the crazy crowd reactions are anything to go by when he takes to the stage, he may even become our own homegrown answer to Eminem and in doing so, make poetry — and Belfast — cool again.

Check him out on YouTube if you want to see why, but just a word of warning: he may be a poet but don’t be expecting a soft lad swooning into his smelling-salts while he waxes lyrical about unrequited love.

It’s edgy, topical and riddled with Belfast slang so, if you're of a sensitive disposition I suggest you wind yer neck right in and catch yerself on.