Erne Integrated was thrilled and delighted to be chosen to take part in the Poetry In Motion project and the Seamus Heaney Awards. We had a Year 9 group who were incredibly creative and loved working with the spoken and written work. On the advice of local poet Teresa Kane, we applied for the programme and were very excited when our school was selected.
A key part of the project was that Teresa came into school and worked with the group (who were then Year 10) over three extended sessions. With Teresa, the students learned a great deal about the creative process and tapping into their own imaginative resources. They experienced a wide range of poetic stimuli from different cultures, epochs and sub-genres which they engaged with enthusiastically. Students were introduced to the idea of using physical objects to fire up their imaginations and to approach their thoughts, feelings and experiences from different directions.
The poem which I submitted is what some might call a “meaning of life” poem. The theme of the project was “write where we belong” and I started writing a poem about home on a very dark, dreary night in November. However, as often happens, the poem took a very different direction and rather than writing about the idea of home I ended up reflecting upon where I was in life. The story of the poem is very simple, I am in my kitchen looking out at a storm. In the distance I can see a trail of streetlights marking out a village along the side of a mountain, on the main road cars are driving through the wind and rain, their inhabitants in transit moving to new experiences – life going on around me.
The storm is violent,juxtaposed with the warmth and security I feel inside, on my own with time to think and reflect on my life. And though I had every conceivable reason to be happy, I feel strangely dislocated and as Arthur Miller once wrote “kinda temporary about myself”, because of the mundanity of everyday life. The storm represents this inner turmoil, a sense of lostness and fear of the unpredictability of the future – the violent inner conflict. Despite all of this, the end of the poem is positive and reasons that we should embrace our challenges and uncertainties and that nature – on one hand threatening and destructive – has the power to revitalise, replenish and renew. To walk into the storm and be reborn takes courage and boldness, but progress can never be achieved without risk and faith.
I found the Poetry in Motion programme to be a fantastic way for our students to explore the poetry of others and to find their own voices. As always with such initiatives, there were some wonderful discoveries and although all of the students surprised themselves by producing art they never believed themselves capable of, we found a few real jewels in the haul. Students were thrilled to have their poems heard and even those who were reluctant performers read their work and enjoyed the achievement. Those young writers who had their poems published or celebrated as being highly commended were extremely proud and have achieved something that they will cherish forever.
The beauty of the project is that it empowered the young people involved to be more creative and added to their confidence and improved their self-esteem. As for me, the programme gave me a chance to indulge in poetry and celebrate the written and spoken word with my young people and lead to a reawakening of my love for poetry.