Right at the beginning of March I went over to Wisbech for the final of
the second Fenland Poet Laureate competition that was held at the
glorious local museum. Every time I go there I find something new, this
time it was a miniature portrait of Chang and Eng, the original Siamese
Twins. No idea what that was doing in Wisbech. Usually with these
competitions there are a few that you think are good and a few middling
ones so you’re left thinking anyone of those four or five could be
winners. Not at this final though, all twelve finalists were top rate
and I was so glad not to have been a judge. For those who received
Highly Commended certificates I can only say that they were very
unlucky, in many other competitions they’d have easily got in to the top
three. The winner was Leanne Moden who I’d seen perform at Verbal
Remedies as part of the We Love Words festival in Peterborough last
September. A name to keep an eye on.
The previous Fenland Laureate, Elaine Ewart, has a blog at flightfeather.wordpress.com Well worth having a perusal of.
Couple
of weeks later and I was persuaded to be part of the judging team at a
poetry at one of Peterborough’s Academies. In the thirty years since I
left Stanground Comprehensive I’ve not had many reason’s to pass through
the portals of any secondary schools, so when I was offered the chance
to have a look around the Academy to while away some time I thought I
would. Dance Studio. Recording Studio. Computer suite with sixty
machines. I think our school had a photograph of a computer…Times do
change. The competitors were pupils in the Academy and were split
between rappers and more traditional poets. So not easy to judge, and
the book I mentioned in the February blog post (Poets Ranked by Beard
Weight) was of no use what-so-ever. The best thing about the slam was
that it had been organised by the pupils themselves and that is
encouraging.
On Good Friday I performed a poem as part of the City Centre
inter-denominational service. When I’d been initially asked I thought I
could probably write something about Hot Cross Buns, but then, when
working on that I started to wonder about Judas. Did he have free-will?
If he didn’t, and Jesus’ crucifixion is supposed to be part of some
plan, then Judas doesn’t deserve his place at the lowest point of Hell
in Dante’s Inferno. If he did have free-will, what might have happened
if Jesus hadn’t been crucified? I raised these points with the minister
who’d invited me to take part and he was able to provide me with some theological pointers and point out that that
wasn’t what they wanted in my poem and could I do something about
Jesus’ cry on the cross of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me…”
Which I did and people seemed happy with, which isn’t bad for an agnostic like me.
Then the next day was the Find Me Keep Me give-away day that I’d
mentioned in my last blog. As well as the Poetry A-Team there were art
teams, craft teams, a music team and a theatre team. In the run up we’d
scratched our collective noggins as to how we were going to give poetry
away. One idea was to produce poetry beer mats so we could include a
poetry pub crawl as part of our activities. Then we thought about
sticking poems to old postcards and putting them into books in charity
shops. A third idea was for a limited number of t-shirts, each with a
poem on. As we’d have the poems, we thought we’d produce a poster
featuring all six poems from each of the six poets as a limited edition
anthology. Last idea was for a poetry lucky dip, just a decorated box
that people could reach their hands into and to take a poem.
Ok, due to problems with timings with printers some of those ideas
didn’t happen (but still could in the near future). I certainly spotted a
couple of people with the poetry posters (A1 sized, decorated by
members of the art teams) and the poetry lucky dip proved popular,
though apparently one person returned their poem as they didn’t think it
was suitable. My favourite though were the poetry postcards in the
charity shops, as people will be continuing to find these for weeks, if
not months, as the books are slowly bought.
For more details about the Poetry A-Team (and a photo of me in a dress) go to http://www.creativepeterborough.com/poetry-team/
Performance Anxiety
If I could travel back in time and speak to my sixteen-year-old self, no doubt she would be horrified to learn that I perform poetry. In front of other people! On stage! Out loud!
I can see her blushing beetroot-red at the very thought of it.
Like many people, I spent much of my life as a closet poet. I wrote poetry and read poetry and enjoyed watching people perform their own poetry at events. But there was no way I was going to expose my poetry to the light of day. The closest I came to that was the work-shopping sessions in my creative writing group at university. Each Wednesday morning I would walk to class, dizzy with anticipation, knowing that we would be discussing one of my poems. And the thought of reading my work aloud? It made me feel physically sick.
So what changed?
Well, for me, it was a combination of several things: my nan died, I spent a bit of time out of work, and I moved away from home, all within the space of a year or so. This upheaval in my personal life gave me the shot in the arm that I so desperately needed. I decide that if I wanted to have a fulfilling life, I would need to go out and embrace every opportunity.
So I did.
When I was offered a five-minute open mic slot at a poetry cabaret night in Norwich in 2010, I jumped at the chance, even though the thought of getting up in front of people still terrified me. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.
As I read my first poem, I felt so nauseous that I genuinely thought I was going to be sick on my shoes! Perhaps, if that had happened, I could have explained it away as performance art? Who knows.
I've now been performing for two years. I've worked with some incredible people and done some amazing things. I've recited poems in the back rooms of pubs, performed in tents at festivals, and competed in a poetry slam on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden. I worked alongside the likes of Steve Larkin, Richard Tyrone Jones, Hollie McNish, Fay Roberts, Young Dawkins, Mark Niel, and the actor Miriam Margolyes. I've collaborated with some very talented people, worked on fantastic projects, and made some wonderful new friends.
But I still get nervous before every performance.
This year, as Fenland Poet Laureate, I'm hoping to give other closet poets the opportunity to engage more actively with poetry, through a series of local workshops and events. I want to spread my own enthusiasm for poetry and foster a supportive environment in which local people can experiment with poetry. I really believe that poetry should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their background, education or level of confidence. With the support of Karen Harvey at Atelier East, Poet Laureate Emeritus Elaine Ewart, and David Wright at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, I hope to promote poetry in the Fens and work with other organisations to bring local poetry firmly into the mainstream.
Just as long as my nerves don't get the better of me!
Leanne Moden is the Fenland Poet Laureate 2013.
You can find her on twitter @crimsonebolg and you can check out her blog at www.tenyearstime.blogspot.co.uk
If you would like Leanne to write a poem to celebrate a Fenland community project, or if you are interested in booking her for your own event, please email info@atelier-east.co.uk.
