Si Poole is concerned with words. As a songwriter, poet, author, academic, researcher and folklorist, in each and every walk of his professional life words have been a cynosure. No stranger to the BBC and British media, his songs and poetry are well played, performed and regarded internationally. In this discussion though he investigates what started it all (perhaps more importantly where it all started) and what his new periodical in ‘Tortoise’, Chester’s culture magazine, is really all about. His concept of ‘be-longing’ is explored, as it is woven through a tale of tension between tradition and innovation in Cheshire dialect.