19/11/08 Elmgrove (Part 3)

Today we were given an introduction to the power of the written word, or rather, how to create a poem. Having successfully avoided poetry since school(many many years ago), I approached this session with an element of apprehension. Poetry to me was full of flowery words, dealing with unrequited love, not for me. To my great surprise (and relief), I was introduced to what I would describe as 'street poetry'. The session was expertly facilitated by Gordon and Ellen from the poet group, Scream Blue Murmour. Thankfully they destroyed all my fears within a matter of minutes by tearing up the rule book. Given the first line only from a traditional (boring) poem, we were given free reign, the next three lines were up to us. The thought of having to read out my feeble attempt inspired me to try and use words with more than three letters and one syllable. That was tough!!!! Interestingly, the subject matter varied greatly. The next task was created by taking four random words and creating four lines of poetry. Once again the subject matter varied greatly. The session lasted approximately 1.5 hours during which time my whole perception of poetry was turned on it's head. Poetry can (and is) used to address many issues, and can make a big impact on society. I'm not saying I'm heading off to Waterstones to buy some inspiring book, but perhaps I will be more appreciative to the power of poetry in future. Thanks guys for a great session.