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Earlier this year I was invited by Kim Morrissey, Canadian Poet and Playwright, to participate in a 'Found' poetry project to commemorate four hundred years of the Quaker Peace Testimonies.
Found poetry uses the actual words and phrases in original historical documents to capture the essence of the text. The aim is to encourage the reader to go back and read the text again. This is a very inspiring and fresh way to approach poetry and I thoroughly recommend it. Also history is a great passion of mine and so any excuse to go and read original texts is very welcome.
Kim asked me to produce a poem from a pamphlet, 'The Boy, The Bayonet and The Bible,' written in 1912 protesting about the rise of militarism in our schools. "I want a long poem," she said her eyes twinkling at me.
We were preparing for a reading later that month at Friends' House. I therefore managed to write a two page poem called, 'We do not close our eyes'.
I therefore wrote a poem, 'Letters home from Russia', using material found in the letters home quoted in the book.
I invited Leslie Wilson, SAS member, Quaker and author of several novels, including Saving Rafael, about Quakers who hid Jews in Nazi Berlin, to come and read a poem with us. Leslie read out a beautiful poem
5 Comments on Reading with the Purple Poets, last added: 5/19/2010
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I love the beauty of poetry and stand back in admiration of poets. For me the writing of poetry has always been an elusive art, and I have feared to tread that path.
But you are right - poetry can open eyes, and you have inspired me to have a go, trepidatiously...
Friend's House sounds like an excellent place to work. The poem First Impressions is very moving and, as you say, it gets the message out there to many people who would never read prose about the Boer War. Sometimes fewer words can be so much more powerful than a tome.
This sounds fascinating, Miriam. I'm no poet, but I like the idea of trying this.
Sue
I'm glad so many of you feel it would be good to try this. If Kim runs another workshop I'll post it on Balaclava and maybe some of you could come along. I didn't really know about this idea before working with her. Apparently found poetry is very big in Canada.
It was a lovely occasion, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, the refrain of my poem, I feel I must point out, was pirated from Gerard Manley Hopkins!
I was hugely impressed by how well and powerfully the poems made out of other people's writings came across. Miriam's was brill! And the Boer War one, in particular, also great. Thanks, Miri, for inviting me.