Poet James Nash at Ireland Wood Primary School

The Theme:  World War I

A selection of lines from the children’s poems

Behind me the ghost of my friend,

they’re breaking people’s hearts with bullets.

All I hear is his voice

I smell sweat

Reflections in my mirror won’t leave my head.

Have I been shot or am I having a dream?

Seeing rats made me think of a barbeque.

Glory, now death and glory.

War doesn’t deserve me.

The feeling of fear is skipping all over me.

I’m letting the death come in

and letting the hope go out.

Our room seems old and dusty.

We have waited for months

and I wonder if you have died

He was once in my dreams

but now he is my nightmare.

 

Comments from teachers (Mattt Collins, Nina Grayson, Adreinne Amos)

As always working with James Nash has brought about the most awesome effect on our Yr. 6 children at IWPS. Their writing has developed in an extraordinary manner – and they are chuffed to bits! A. Amos

An incredible opportunity – our children have written incredible poetry,

The children have grown in self belief and created great poems.

Vice-chair of the Governors

An outstanding event. The inspiration from James and the resulting poems was amazing. The empathy was quite emotional.

The Children were asked what they thought about the project. Below is a summary of their answers.

What was the best thing about the project?

Being able to write all our poems

Helping others

Giving out ideas

What have you learnt?

To write your poem.

Listening and getting ideas

How to look at a picture.

Why is it good to share your work with other children in the school?

Leads to growth in confidence.

To believe in yourself.

What will you remember about this project?

The poems we wrote – the topic

The five questions

The inspiration of working together.

Comments from the Audience

A wonderful opportunity for the children to experience poetry. My child has really enjoyed working with James and is happy with what she has learnt. Thank you for providing this experience.

Nadia has asked me to write for her that she is so grateful to hear the poetry and to understand World War 1 through the children. She had no idea before.

Children learn about WW1 and me also (written for me)

Really enjoyed listening to what the children had wrote! Brilliant!

An absorbing topic which ignited genuine interest from my daughter who enjoyed every moment. Some great work produced at the end.

A great event, being taken through a poetry workshop stage by stage was very insightful. Good to see confidence it has already brought the children to express themselves.

It was such a privilege to hear the children read their poetry today. What an incredible opportunity they have had having James Nash teach and help and inspire them to write such rich and beautiful poetry. A big thank you to Headingley LitFest. Long may these opportunities continue.

It gave me food for thought too. All the children did a fantastic job, I really enjoyed the thought and time and effort that went in.

What a great event. So much creativity amongst the children and so diverse. They have obviously learnt a lot about WW1 and also about creative expression through 

Poet James Nash at Quarry Mount Primary School

Beowulf visits Quarry Mount

Sally Andrews writes:

A cold coming we had of it … OK, wrong literary reference (The Magi by T S Elliot) but on a bone-chilling November morning we had a lovely warm welcome at Quarry Mount from Ms Aspin and her year 5 class.  They had been studying Beowulf, another epic poem, but this one at least 1000 years old.  The story told makes particular use of alliterative language and the youngsters took to the form with skill and imagination, retelling the story in their own creative writing.  A new twist on a tale from another millennium.

 

Poet-hero James Nash

Working once again with James Nash, local published poet - who has been reading his work to audiences for two decades - they even gave him some advice about the performances of their original writing.  Reading out to an assembly of peers, parents, other school personnel and adult visitors, they convinced themselves the audience were just pineapples – and there was little evidence of nerves.  Brio and confidence with performing, delight and pride shown in smiles and body language speaking volumes.  Marvellous to see in nine-year-olds!  Who amongst us wouldn't be nervous to perform in front of peers and parents?

This 'pineapple' was delighted by some wonderfully original work: battling Beowulf, gruesome Grendel, scared soldiers telling tales by the flickering flames of the fire – we got alliteration all right. Along with caves, magical swords, gushing blood , sharp yellow teeth … you got the picture very vividly from their work.

Some of the memorable lines of poetry from the children were:

Soldier slowly waking

Who knows what will happen every second we think

Mysterious man creeping at the door

His yellow broken teeth, his arms as big as trees

Sound like a bag being burst open

The mysterious door opened

His mother came for revenge, I snatched her head off.

One parent said of his son beforehand, “ He is really excited about it, despite being really nervous – it is an opportunity for him to express himself.”  Another mum confided that her daughter spoke Arabic but that this opportunity had developed her writing in English and she was now much more confident with her writing.

Ms Price, the classroom support assistant spoke of the change in one young man who had really taken flight with his writing, learning how drafting, editing and redrafting were all necessary steps to the production of a final piece fit for performance.

Year 5's class teacher Ms Aspin said that the class had gained so much confidence in reading out loud and headteacher Ms Hendley added they had so enjoyed the breadth of opportunity that experiencing poetry with a professional poet had given them.

Curriculum leader Mrs Smith was so grateful for the opportunity to have a poet inspire creative literacy in children who didn't always have English as a first language, and recounted that one young man said the poetry workshops were “The best club I have ever been to.”

Comments from the youngsters when asked what was best about the project included:

Learning how to do poetry

Seeing poetry books

Learning new things

It was fun!

They will remember how proud they were of their work and how making your feelings obvious might inspire others to write honestly and with emotion.

Last words to the parents:

I loved it, it was wonderful

I thought this event was a great idea as it helps the children build confidence to read out in front of people

I thought all the children did really well; they were confident and very brave; I love the way parents can get involved

Thank you again to Leeds council's Inner North West Area Management Committee who funded the work once again.  In difficult times it is good to see that creative arts are still supported.

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Ralf Thenior in Leeds - Headingley on 21 September 2017

Peter Spafford writes:

I want to put the word out about Ralf Thenior, a poet from Dortmund who is spending a week in Leeds from Sept 17th. I’ve organised a few readings/events for Ralf - it would be great if you could make it along to one or more of them.

Ralf Thenior - Ein Dichter aus Dortmund

Ralf’s visit is part of a Dortmund-Leeds exchange I've initiated - I’m going to Dortmund in October for a week to read at the Literature Festival there. The exchange is a pilot, bravely funded by Leeds City Council; a chance for each poet to meet a new place and write our own poems about the other's city. It’s a deliberate attempt, in the wake of recent events, to reach out to the writing communities of other European cities. Dortmund is twinned with Leeds and seemed a good place to start.

Here are the events:

TUESDAY 19th, 7.30pm: Ralf will co-host Love The Words with me on Chapel FM. Listen at www.chapelfm.co.uk. He will be reading, talking about Dortmund, translation, life in general, and chatting to guests.

WEDNESDAY 20th 12noon: Ralf is talking to young people studying German at Lawnswood High School.

THURSDAY 21st, 7pm: In The Neighbourhood, at Oxfam Books, Headingley. Ralf, myself, and Matthew Bellwood will be reading and talking about our respective neighbourhoods. Free event in collaboration with Headingley Litfest.

FRIDAY 22nd, 1pm: Ralf is reading and talking at Leeds Central Library, 1pm. Free event. http://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/writers-transit

FRIDAY 22ND, 7pm: House gig at my gaff, with French chansons performed by Encore. Limited space, but let me know if you want to come along.

I really want to make Ralf welcome. He’s a fascinating poet, working in three languages, and - not incidentally - a very curious and engaging human.

www.peterspafford.co.uk

Peacejam in Leeds - join the laureates!

It's just up the road from Headingley...  and well worth going to!

The online link for registration is .http://www.peacejamconf.org.uk. The early bird offer is £55 for the two days for students.