It is fair to say that some participants didn’t get what they came for on Sunday morning when they turned up with their rolled up mats and tired faces expecting relaxation and poetry. I was a late replacement for the relaxation teacher who wasn’t able to make it. There was a meditative quality to this workshop, but I don’t think you could say it was relaxing. This was a mixed group of experienced poets and some completely new to poetry. But every single one of them moved me with their willingness to dig in, dig deep and take on challenges. By this point in the festival I reckon most participants are steeped in poetry and they’re just ready to go. We read Wallace Stevens’ poem, ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’, an imagist masterpiece. The workshop culminated in everyone writing their own ‘Thirteen ways of looking at … ‘ poems, but before that, they wrote a group poem, each contributing a single section, ‘Nine Ways of Looking at a Mobile Phone’. At the end of the session, they all wrote down their sections for me, which I’ve transcribed and pasted in below with their permission. You’ll find it there, unedited since this morning. I think it’s pretty wonderful.
The poems they produced subsequently on themes of their choice were even more impressive, producing plenty of laughter, but even more sighs of recognition. I felt thoroughly elated by the end of workshop. Bravo to all who took part.
Nine ways of looking at a mobile phone
1
Metal plastic blank
silent
the phone belongs to anyone
lines, whorls, finger pressure
ownership
2.
In the hushed London rush-hour
commuters sway: not to the rhythm
of the tracks but to their own
smart phone lullaby
3.
Precious rare earth
minerals to be mined
mine
Golden apple of life, lies and laughter
Perfect pictures and piracy
and shortcuts
and U
Tube
4.
The latest iPad (or the one we can most afford) connects my
children to their friends and parties
they will attend, and the goings
on in their private world.
It excludes me, eyes contact
with strangers and the spaces
between the sentences that then
no longer speak
5.
She spoke softly. I heard the tremor in the
tingling static.
“My mobile phone is out of credit,
could you ask on my behalf?”
6.
I am birth
I am kiss
I am kith
I am love
I am death
I am your timelines
7.
Miphone is nothing notable not able
miphone is isn’t an islander
Miphone is the best only most
Miphone is my general fax factory jactotum
is my total totem
Is my translator transgender transitional object
8.
Still so much to learn
Regarding all of the things
A mobile phone has offer
I like to learn in my own time
But at times I’ll call on my son
For assistance of which
Gives him the feeling of superiority
And a good laugh as well.
It’s important to me that at bedtime
He leaves his phone downstairs charging
Or he’d be on it all night
And he wouldn’t be able to cope with
His day and responsibilities
And neither would I!
9.
The sounds of the phone are various,
alarming or comforting.
The messages in the phone
tell of the urgent, the mundane
or of endearments to treasure.
Written by: Philly Vincent, John Mills, Rachael Clyne, Marilyn Hamnich, Carole Best, Fi Paney, Lesley, Anon and Anon
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