Leg 1: Local Poems in Local Schools? – The Story

During the Summer of 2000, I was supported by a 'Year of the Artist' (YOTA) residency in Havering. Initially, anything from four to six poems was to be considered a 'result', and possible topics focussed on local heritage, folklore and geology. In the end, 34 poems actually got written, dealing with subjects as varied as local characters, the World Wars, the Ice Age geology of the proto-Thames, and the etymology of local street names!

My vision, from the outset, was to generate original poems that would be site-specific items reflecting the richness and diversity of local interests - but with tentacles, somehow, in the universal. My intention was to make the work, as far as possible, accessible to young and old alike. The poems were designed to range across many styles, to be alert to contrast, playfulness and eclecticism - but always with a general, as well as schools, audience in mind.

Many of the poems have since been situated for public viewing, at Underground stations, at 'Stubbers' (Ockendon's famous walled garden), across the parks of North Havering (in the form of a 'Thames Walk') and at special historical locations such as Romford Market, a market whose location was determined by the distance sheep could be driven in a single day. Many poems were posted on billboard sites and other one-off mountings, for a season, across the entire Borough.

Indeed, The Stamina of Sheep represents writing that is sensitive to performance in all its aspects (posters, multi-vocal readings, captions, etc) and is very much part of a larger trend in contemporary British poetry towards diversity, performance and the exploration of identity, a development I have termed 'Poeclectics' (for the curious: see www.mariopetrucci.com).

Given my background in education and literacy, I was soon galvanised into doing something specifically for creative writing among children in the region. The poems had already drawn a strong and generous response, by word of mouth as well as through substantial local media coverage. But the YOTA funds fell short of any follow up, such as a more permanent application of the poems in book form, for schools. Hence the spin-off project below, The Stamina of Sheep and the Study Pack, supported by London Arts and Havering Arts Office, which aimed to rectify that situation.

So, Havering has acquired not only a book of poems (The Stamina of Sheep) tailored to the Borough but also an accompanying Study Pack which I have tried to cram with innovative ideas for teachers, tutors and writers. The idea was to have something practical, accessible and lively. There had to be something fresh for trainee and qualified teachers, providing material for school outings and GCSE/ A-level coursework. Certainly, these sibling publications provide Secondary Schools in an under-resourced area with access to local literature of quality and deep relevance to local interests and needs; but they will also carry strong resonances for the Borough’s writers and residents more generally. Sample books have gone out to all of Havering’s secondary schools and libraries at zero cost, which represents a considerable push in my efforts to link local history and school classwork. My hope is that it will help to engender among local children a deeper sense of community, identity and place.

This project has been novel in terms of defining and consolidating a communal and educational role for poetry, helping to put the local benefits of the YOTA project on a long-term educational footing. But the poems, as well as the project itself, have also generated wider interest. It would seem that the intensely ‘local’ has generic blood. The work therefore serves as a possible pilot for future initiatives involving the deployment of poetry in public places as an educational and aesthetic resource.

Although the book’s foreword does engage the various dangers, as well as opportunities, attending poets working in this way, it has to be said, however, that nothing quite prepared me for the depth and variety of skills you have to display in a project like this: first, getting it funded and off the ground; then getting all the poems written; deciding the aesthetics of how they will be placed; generating illustrations and exercises; and finally publishing the material and managing the quality control, budget, publicity and distribution (essentially) single-handedly. Believe me, I strained every freelance tendon.

But I sense already that the books stand as an inspiration to all those teachers who are also artists and writers, or who are interested in what might be possible with grass-roots poetry in the educational domain with a lot of hard work, a little money and the beginnings of a vision. And it doesn’t have to be a ‘poet’ doing it. You can always find, adapt or commission ‘local’ poems and use them in this way. Or, if you’re mad enough, and talented enough, have a go yourself!

© Mario Petrucci, for use on the www.poetryclass.net website.  Permission must be granted by the author for adapting this article for any other purpose, by contacting  poetryclass@poetrysociety.org.uk. 

Further information on the project is available at www.mariopetrucci.com and the books can be obtained via: mmpetrucci@hotmail.com.

The Stamina of Sheep
Poems and illustrations
(The London Borough of Havering, 2002, £5.95 + £1 p&p)

The Havering Poetry Study Pack
Exercises for creative writing & study for local residents, schools and colleges
(The London Borough of Havering, 2002, £2.95 + £1 p&p)

Return to Top