Becky Cherriman, Ian Harker, Tom Kelly and Tom Weir in Headingley Library

Four Big Splashes

Síle Moriarty writes:

Becky Cherriman, Tom Kelly, Ian Harker and Tom Weir
Photo by Richard Wilcocks

I do love these LitFest events at Headingley Library – the staff are so welcoming and the atmosphere is relaxed and easy with much bantering and teasing and back chat. Also, as Ian Harker pointed out, they happen in the right place i.e. in the children’s section of the library where they are part of a continuum that starts when youngsters learn to love the written word and books and literature.

Our four poets last night were inspiring to listen to; their easy natures and good humour belied the intensity and quality of their work. I enjoyed their different voices and themes and the variety of ways in which they used poetry to express themselves. All four poets read from their latest published books/pamphlets and we also heard newer unpublished poems.

Becky Cherriman took us into the binding passing places of love and motherhood and loss, opening her set with All Princes were Monsters Once in which ‘One day I come home to find the sofa/ is no longer big enough’ and, in the same poem, a child becomes his mother’s ‘first accurate mirror’. I admire the fact that she has the confidence to write in the first person (though not in every poem) about such intimate and fundamental matters but at the same time with immense objectivity.

Ian Harker went on flights of imagination (where do you get your ideas from Ian?) for example in The Lions of Leeds Town Hall where the lions set off up Park Row, their stone claws ‘clack-clacking on flags’. It does have to be said however that some members of the audience assured Ian that this was no flight of fancy as they too had seen the lions going for a stroll on a Friday night and they weren’t at all surprised that later in the poem ‘Nesyamum , three thousand years dead’, might sit up and start ‘tapping against the glass’.

Emma Walker sold the poetry collections
Photos by Richard Wilcocks

Tom Kelly, who didn’t look at all like the photo in the brochure (it was the wrong photo), explored a number of themes but I was particularly taken by his poems that included the natural world -  for example his Sigurd’s Tale in which a finch has three songs - of love, to warn, and for his rival - but which also has a fourth song that has no words  ‘Sung in joy or sorrow,/ this song is for no one save himself/ and the air in his throat.’ I love that song.

Tom Weir didn’t have time to finish his pizza before he had to read but that didn’t put him off. As always I am intrigued by the language of his poems which deploy precise description and imagery. He read Dog Suicide which, as a dog lover, had me in bits - ‘You didn’t struggle just placed your chin on the water and looked at me’. But that look is universal as ‘the current took hold and pulled you back/ towards the bridge, the ice cream shop, /the waterfall none of us knew how to stop.’ Tom read a number of short new poems to finish his set and floated them out to us on single slender sheets of paper that fluttered in his fingers.

Thanks to all of the poets for such a lovely evening.

Natasha Lyons writes:

It seems fitting that, on World Book Day, we are gathered in Headingley Library to listen and enjoy some of the flourishing local poets of today. After engaging performances from Becky Cherriman and Ian Harker, Tom Kelly takes to the floor to read aloud some of his poetry, both old and new. Tom’s poetry draws upon some of his experiences in Leeds, or recognisable areas that he’s particularly taken by, such as the miniatures in the University Parkinson building in his poem, aptly named The Miniatures. His personal anecdotes are also appreciated by the audience and are humorous in his take on the little eccentricities of life. The Theory of The Mark was a particularly witty and interesting poem, inspired by a birthmark on Tom’s grandmother, which, Tom adds, looked exactly like the shape of a rabbit. Tom’s poetry continued in this playful and lively fashion, with the animals being a continual theme. The Surfing Hippos in West Africa was a hilariously comic poem, conjuring up quite an entertaining thought! Even more so, when Tom’s poem went on to put the hippo in a museum, labelled by a dumb curator as ‘The Surfing Seal’. Tom’s collection of poems finishes on a thought provoking note, as Tom explains how the news of Cecil the Lion inspired some of his animal poetry. Tom’s poetry took us all around the world, from the local environs of Leeds all the way to the African jungle with rhinos and hippos to local restaurants in Paris.

The final poet of the evening was Tom Weir, whose poetry was also inspired by personal anecdotes and day-to-day life. Dog Suicide was a saddening, but fascinating poem about Tom’s dog flailing in the water, confused by its need to paddle back to the surface. The Circle Line brought us back to the Capital and meditated on the dark and introspective mind of the daily commuter where we were treated to imaginative lyrics like the ‘train having its own breathe’ and the ‘belly of the gypsy’s accordion on the metro’. I especially enjoyed The Book of British Birds and Vocabulary which brings back memories of learning new and complicated words for the first time, at school. As a teacher, Tom explains how these ‘Tier 3’ words are taught to children in the classroom and it feels apt that we are sitting in the Children’s Book section of the library, where many children, as in Tom’s poem, will discover literature and the fascination of words for the first time. Tom concludes with a few short poems: Tobogganing, We Might As Well Have Been Made of Glass and Visiting Hours. A fun end to a lovely evening of diverse and warming poetry.

LitFest Committee writes: We were really grateful for the support from Leeds University volunteers Natasha Lyons and Francesca Wilson, who helped with all the behind-the-scenes work to make the event successful.  And, of course, huge thanks too to the staff of Headingley Library - Chris Stephenson and Chloe Derrick - who gave their time and efforts to make the library an inviting venue.

Audience Comments
Lovely to read with such considered and accomplished poets. Made to feel welcome.

A wonderful medley of local poems – evocative, witty, deep. The styles of recital were distinctive and satisfying, bearing the stamp of character of each 'rhyme-smith'

Brilliant poems, and a great setting. A fantastic way to celebrate World Book Day.

Really great event – excellent line-up of poets, and a lovely relaxed atmosphere. And thank you for the wine!

Good varied programme - from the way Becky read with emotion and Ian with clarity, Tom K with quiet confidence and Tom W with laid-back humour.

Very enjoyable event with 4 clever poets! Good to see local talent celebrated.

Such acuity, such emotion, such imagination, such condensed language. Thank you!

Much enjoyed all poets' work (much already familiar) notably the differences of sensibility between all four poets. Note the differences between all of them and the voice of the women's work. Fancy there is an assumption that everybody interested in poetry has email - presumably anyone who has not is as good as dead? Forgive the script, I am partially sighted.

Excellent readings from all the men. The female more a performance than poetry. Words are not enough. Artifice and theatre.

A very nice and interesting evening with four very good poets; Becky Cherriman, Ian Harker, Tom Kelly and Tom Weir. I found all the poetry very interesting, particularly Becky's poetry on her own parenthood.

All poets were entertaining – their poems stimulating and easily accessible, and great to have wine at the event as well as opportunity to buy pamphlets. Perhaps a more 'professional' introduction to the event, and to each of the poets, would be in order.

Lovely event. Nice to hear a range of poets with different styles. Also nice to hear poets try 'new poems'. Lovely that it coincided with World Book Day.

Four very good poets, three of whom I know very well anyway. Good location.

Brilliant reading especially by Tom, Ian and Tom

A wonderful opportunity. So many poets for free. Thank you! I particularly enjoyed Becky Cherriman and Ian Harker. Excellent speakers as well as poets.

Four very accomplished poets, enjoyable evening.

I've just arrived in Leeds – am on loan from London to a sister charity here in Leeds. And I thoroughly enjoy my first Headingey LitFest and can't wait to come to more events.

An excellent and diverse programme of contemporary poetry. Well done to the poets!

Dinner with Petrarch at Salvo's Salumeria

Una serata piena di vecchia poesia

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Chiara Sbordoni and Richard Wilcocks

For me, this annual event in the delightful Salumeria with a focus on Italian literature has become one of the highlights of the LitFest, and now that the three cornerstones have been covered - Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch - thoughts should turn to what happens in the future. The comments below show that there is an appetite for a next course. I was chatting with Chiara yesterday evening about this, after our performance. Should it be an evening of modern Italian short stories, or extracts from novels? Alberto Moravia? What about Andrea Camilleri, who wrote the Inspector Montalbano stories? Umberto Eco? Grazia Verasani, who wrote the book of the film Quo Vadis, Baby? Do tell us what you might prefer, blog readers!

All the poems by Petrarch heard last night were originally written in Italian vernacular and they all belong to the same book, the Canzoniere (literally Song Book) upon which the poet lavished forty years of his life, ever since he first started gathering in his scattered poems in around 1335. There are 366 poems in the collection, as many as the days in a year plus one - the introductory poem - and it is mainly devoted to the poet's love for a French woman, Laura, whom he had met on 6 April 1327 in the church of St Claire in Avignon, and who had died on 6 April 1348, when she became a victim of the Black Death. Petrarch was a frequent traveller throughout Europe, especially between France and Italy, usually as part of his work on various diplomatic and political missions, and found the opportunities to visit some of the major libraries, where he made important discoveries, as when in Verona he found some of Cicero's letters. He was proud of his achievements: a central event in his life was his coronation as a poet laureate on the Capitol hill in Rome by the King of Naples in 1341. His friends included Boccaccio, and he put a great deal of energy into constructing an ideal image of himself, for posterity. All of this information and more was conveyed crisply by Chiara, backed up by a handout on every table. The diners loved it. Read their comments.

All fourteen lines of some sonnets were read in Italian by Chiara before I read the English versions, but we decided to just give tastes of others - the first four lines in Italian to precede the whole thing in English. This was because we knew there would be a few present who understood every word of the Italian, a few more who got the general drift and a majority who liked to listen to the music of the language. As it turned out, several people said they would have liked more of the Italian. Poems by English admirers of Petrarch came at the end of the main performance - Love that doth reign and live within my thought, a translation by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, beautifully read by Chiara, Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind by Sir Thomas Wyatt, credited with introducing the sonnet into England and Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour by William Wordsworth, both read by myself.


Audience comments
More please! Not only was the pairing with food very attractive, but I really learned something about Petrarch's influence on Shakespeare's sonnets. Good to hear the Italian spoken and the English translation. Excellent event!

A splendid concept, combining the best of Italian poetry with Italian cuisine. I am visiting from South Wales, and will return for more!

Very entertaining. Grazie per questo momento di cultura.

I thought it was very well presented - the small explanations before the sonnets were very useful! Maybe a bit more Italian reading would have been nice.

I really enjoyed the event and I found it very interesting & full of vivacity & passion. I enjoyed the mixture of Italian and English readings and the selection of sonnets.

Ben presentato. Essendo un autore/poeta italiano aurei dato piu spazio alla lingua originale.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event, especially as it is not something I would usually attend. As an English Literature graduate, I thought the poetry was well presented and communicated. Overall, the event was of high quality and created a great atmosphere for the restaurant.

Not the usual night, it was very nice and intellectually stimulating. As an Italian, I really appreciated having a taste of my culture served to me in such a thoroughly well-executed way.

A very useful intro to this poet, clear and well-prepared. A most pleasant evening at a lovely venue. I will undertake further study after this introduction.

- informative  - enjoyable  -well-presented  - brilliant venue  - lovely to hear an Italian voice & some romance. Thankyou!

Lovely evening, thankyou. Wonderful poetry, wonderful food. I really liked having the Italian and English texts to follow but would enjoy hearing slightly more Italian. Looking forward to the next one...

Very enjoyable, mixing poetry reading in both languages with lovely food and atmosphere. It would have been nice to have more read in Italian. The sonnets would lend themselves to this as they're short? Having parallel texts (Italian/translation) was very helpful.

Great food, excellent wine, good poetry. What more could one ask for?

A delightful evening. Petrarch a joy to hear. So romantic, calming.

Great! I would have preferred more Italian and more commentary, but I did enjoy it and thought it was good value.

GREAT! Well organised, engaging and great food! Relaxed atmosphere (emoji) More please!

A very enjoyable evening.

Delightful. Such a lovely way of spending an evening. Good food, good company.

Very relaxing evening and interesting to learn more about Italian poetry.

Love the exposure to Italian language + literature as previous student if Italian renaissance.

Perfect setting and accompaniment to a wonderful evening. Very good to have Italian and English renditions to get the flavour and tone as well as meaning.

For me, this was a very relaxed and informative introduction to Petrarch.

We went to an exhibition of Petrarch's life when we visited Padua some years ago and we were interested to hear more about his poetry.

Excellent combination of food and poetry - would definitely come again to a similar event.

A very interesting event. Having readings in 2 languages was specially apt. A most entertaining and informative evening.

I have been studying Italian and love listening to it, even if I don't understand it all! I think the balance of Italian and English this evening was about right.

A thoroughly enjoyable event, only regret was that I would have enjoyed hearing each sonnet in Italian as well as English (totally)  - perhaps 4 lines by 4 - it was excellent to give examples of P.S. in later works - Wyatt and Wordsworth.

A very pleasant evening with good balance of readings + informative chat + a lovely meal. I enjoyed the Italian/English reading - thanks for the print-outs. I have learnt a lot from these - Dante, Decameron + this. I googled Petrarch today, knowing little - + learnt lots. These are great educational + social events.

Helen Mort with Year 6 at Ireland Wood Primary School

 Richard Wilcocks writes:

Year 6 teacher Adrienne Amos with poet Helen Mort

They must have been nervous, but they did not show it as they sat on chairs in an arc, the whole Year 6 class, not one member of it without a poem to read. Behind them, a beautiful and extensive display on large boards - the final drafts of the same poems, many illustrated. In front of them on the floor, Year 5 watching and listening, knowing that they will be doing the same thing next year, during the LitFest. And sitting beyond Year 5, two rows of parents. The readers were divided into three sections, because it had been decided to concentrate on best beginnings, best middles and best endings. Because the theme was what might happen if you had a superpower - the ability to fly - this became (more or less) taking off, observing the world below and landing.


Before they began, Helen Mort read one of her own poems - Talk of the Town - which deals with her home town of Chesterfield, football and community spirit (try to ignore the background noise as she reads it here in another primary school) for the benefit of the parents and Year 5. She had read it three weeks previously to Year 6, along with Stainless Steven and Made in Derbyshire, two other poems from her recent collection Division Street. The pupil readings followed, and the faces of the listeners, especially those of the parents, changed visibly as the performance progressed, indicating increasing involvement and wonder as the words flowed from the children's mouths. Confidence built up well, so that few of the poems were rushed, most voices were loud enough and telling images were conveyed. It was a great success, a tribute to the work of Helen Mort in the workshop sessions. Class teacher Adrienne Amos praised her to the hilt.

Drafting a poem   Photos by Richard Wilcocks

During the last workshop with the class, when most of the poems were almost complete in draft form, Helen had impressed on the pupils the importance of endings. "Every flight needs a landing," she said. "Finalising a poem is like landing a plane. You've got to get it just right." All of the ten and eleven year-old poets landed well in Ireland Wood Primary School's main hall, with no casualties, and all of them flew superbly. In fact, they did more than merely fly. They soared.

Audience Comments
I really enjoyed listening to the children reading their own poetry. Such imagination was very impressive.

The work the children in Year 6 produced was outstanding. Working with Helen Mort the poet has inspired the children to write some incredible poems.

Absolutely fantastic. I'm amazed with the words/poem my son and the other children wrote.

Lovely to see what the children have been learning. Very enjoyable to watch.

Fantastic event sharing parts of the poems the children have written - really great work.

Whiteboard for a workshop

Really enjoyed the rhymes the children at Ireland Wood Primary School did.

Some fantastic ideas of how the children see Leeds through their own eyes.

My grandaughter read a poem at school, which she wrote. Listening to each child it was great to know that poems are still written and read in school. Keep up the good work!

It was a good event. I liked all the kids' poems.

I enjoyed all the children saying all the poems. Would have liked to hear all of them.

Some very good poems.

Brudenell Primary School - Malika Booker and Year 6

Sheila Chapman writes:

Poet Malika Booker with Headteacher Jo Davies

I was welcomed into Brudenell Primary School hall for the presentation by the enticing smell of coffee, a table full of cake and the cheerful hospitality of the staff. What a wonderful way to start what proved to be a most enriching experience!

The children of Year 6 had written their own original poetry on the theme of ‘Emotions’ and I was there to hear them perform before an audience of parents, teachers and other children from the school. Some of poems were performed by groups of children who tackled themes such as Love and Jealousy – not easy to write about (even adult poets struggle with these large themes) but  Year 6 made a great job of them. I particularly remember the description of Jealousy - burning paper flaming and crackling ... it smells like poisonous gas making it hard to breath.

Individual children had written poems about how they felt about members of their families. After they had finished there was hardly a dry eye in the house! Memorable lines included:

A smile like a golden necklace

Steering wheel encased by his gentle hands

Skin soft as a swan’s feathers

Without her darkness would fall

She clicks her fingers like a machine gun

Her smile is blossom

What lovely poems and fabulous children! Thanks go to Malika Booker who coached the children and to the staff of Brudenell School for making me feel so at home.

Richard Wilcocks writes
Some pupils looked astonished, others a little bemused, when Malika first walked into their classroom to make them feel that they were poets too - alongside herself. Their enthusiasm was awakened soon after she began talking about herself, her work and her interests. Questions came from just about every one of them. After reading a couple of her poems, about her mother and her mother's shopping methods in the food market (back in the Caribbean), she talked in general about what poetry is, the five senses, similes, metaphors and clichés. This led to writing and speaking exercises in groups sitting at tables. She moved on to take a detailed look at two poems - My mother's hands by an anonymous Kurdish refugee, and I remember my father's hands by Palestinian poet Lisa Suhair-Majaj. All of the pupils' observations were written on the whiteboard.

Photos by Richard Wilcocks

After a session on fitting imagery, pupils were asked to focus on the hands of a favourite family member. What had they done and what did they do frequently? The class chose plenty of mothers, but there were plenty of others - like a taxi-driving uncle. What is their voice like? Suggestions included violins and a shrieking parrot. 

We moved on. We had fun with the round-up of repetitive sayings uttered by adults at home. Emotions were named and considered, one by one: anger, joy, jealousy... and what would it be like if you never saw that person again? What would it feel like, smell like, taste like?

By the end of the first session, the pupils had become deeply engaged, shyness and any doubts fading. Poems were improved and lengthened in further sessions with Malika and class teacher Kath Giles, so that when the time for the performance came, they were significantly more confident, able to deliver well-wrought poems and to move a large audience. Transformed by poetry! Read two of them below.

                                            

Audience Comments

I would like to thank the poet who spent three weeks helping my daughter and her peers to write their own poems. My daughter’s poem is really an amazing piece of writing and I am proud of her. I wish you can do that again with my son who is in year 4 now

It was deep, beautifully presented. The emotions were brought out through words so beautifully. Children could be themselves and express their emotions.

I worked with the class and, over the three weeks, they improved all the time. Their vocab. + confidence + ability to show/share their emotions was incredible. Brilliant experience.  

It was touching and really tearful. It is so cute and lovely to know what my daughter feels about me. And how much she doesn’t express in everyday life. I love my daughter so much.

Impressed by the power of words. Emotional and compelling words. Great confidence brought out by the facilitator. Good work!

Wonderful emotional event showing the children’s enthusiasm for learning and poetry.

Two poems by ten year-old pupils whose home languages include Arabic, Panjabi and Urdu in addition to English:

Summer’s light

Cobbled street-like hands curl around me.

His voice is as if he is scratching bark,

You can compare it to a cacophony of violins.

On his finger, an eye-watering ring encircles it.

The steering wheel encased by his gentle hands.

His smile like the light of a thunder bolt.

If he left me, I’d cry a river of blood.

This is how I think of my dad.

by Ihsan

My Favourite Person

She gives me presents with her gentle hands.

Her skin is as soft as swans’ feathers.

She swipes her hands like the conductor of an orchestra.

She says ‘Don’t be so LOUD!’

Her hands smell of buns from the baking.

If I never saw her again, I would be a lonely person in a neverending desert.

Karam