Can you create collage poems for the National Poetry Centre?
The National Poetry Centre is asking people to send in collage poems made from words taken from magazines and newspapers.
The poems must be created from recyclable materials and follows the NPC’s successful Rubbish Words event, which saw hundreds of people inspired to make poems using words cut out of items such as posters and theatre play bills.
Rubbish Words took place on 18-20 October at Leeds Corn Exchange.
It was part of the Poetry School’s Summit Festival and made possible thanks to funding from Leeds City Council’s Cultural Investment Programme Grow: Project strand and the University of Leeds.
Mother and daughter duo Susan Jackson and Sally Marland said they were thrilled to take part and added their poems to boards placed in the creative space. “It has been fun and very unusual,” said Sally. “It is not something we would normally do.” Susan’s poem read:
“It’s something that I dream of seeing family in Leeds.”
Sally created: “This time proudly supports women of substance. Does it?”
Dad Steve Dixon brought his two children Robyn and Clark to Rubbish Words. “I want to do another one (poem) said an enthused Robyn. Clark’s love of football, particularly Bradford City and Manchester City, saw him come up with:
“We love football, watch live online, inside the festival or the great big hall.”
Mother and daughter Rachel and Sara came to the event after hearing about if from a neighbour. “My daughter loves poetry and has been writing it for many years,” said Rachel. “Leeds is a big city and something so simple should be available to children.” Ten-year-old Sara said: “Poetry is like a free flow form message to people of how you feel in the core of your heart, it expresses your emotions and it talks for you.”
Nick Barley, director of the National Poetry Centre, said: “The energy, buzz and sheer creativity that the people of Leeds brought to Rubbish Words was fantastic. Participants from all backgrounds and ages took part, and the results turned discarded ‘rubbish’ into pure gold: funny, insightful, thoughtful and at times inspirational poems. Many people told us they’d like to take part in more projects like this - and that’s just what the forthcoming National Poetry Centre will be able to offer when it opens to the public in Woodhouse Lane.”
Chapel FM reported from the three-day poetry project which was led by poet Sarah Dawson, who has a background in collaborative poetry performance and has performed at the European Poetry Festival four times. “I was really taken by how into it (poetry) people got, you could see they started off with a couple of words and it seemed to lead to other thoughts and became a poem.
“I have love to see people go through the process and become more confident with what they were creating – every single person has really engaged. It is nice to have a job where you make people happy.”
When participants were asked “What did playing with words today make you feel?” feedback included:
“Elated.” “Happy.” “Present and peaceful.”
“Creative and free to express myself.”
Artist George Storm Fletcher took inspiration from the poems to create artwork using their trademark preferred medium of emulsion paint with decorators’ dustsheets as canvasses.
The National Poetry Centre can be tagged with poems on Twitter/X @NatPoetryCentre and @nationalpoetrycentre on Instagram.