Today on Book Break, we are rediscovering poetry. If you're anything like me, when you
think of poetry, you might think of all those poems that you had to learn at school, which
required hours and hours of studying them, to try and understand what they meant. I always
found poetry not very accessible.
But when I saw that this year's National Poetry Day theme was change, I wanted to see how
much poetry has changed since I was at school. So I spent the last few days completely lost
in some of the newest and most exciting poetry collections coming out of Pan Macmillan this
year. I've been reading them aloud, really playing with the form of poetry. And it turns
out the landscape of poetry really is so different now. It's so much more accessible, and it's
so much broader than the definition that I had in my head of what poetry means.
So if you're a poetry novice like me, or if you've always loved poetry but you just really
want to know what's coming up next, here's a selection that I found the most exciting
of some of the new poetry collections coming out now.
So first up I've got Running Upon the Wires, which is the latest collection from Kate Tempest.
And I really love the way that this book is structured. So it's got three sections: the
end, the middle, and the beginning. And it's all about the end of one relationship, and
going through heartbreak, and then the joy of starting a new relationship, and then also
that middle bit in between where you're still not fully over the last relationship, but
you are starting to fall for the new person and get excited about the new love that's
beginning.
So there are so many really lovely lines in this poetry book that everybody will find
relatable in some way to their life, but I'm going to read out my favourite bit, just one
verse of one of the poems, which I loved because it felt so everyday, and such a real part
of a relationship. So this is from a poem called 'We bought new sheets', and this is
the last verse.
Night buzzes around us we shake it till it billows then snap it tight,
pull its edges and fold it under like a pair of real adults
I just really loved that bit!
So that was Running Upon the Wires by Kate Tempest. Next up, I've got England: Poems
from a School. And this is a collection edited by Kate Clanchy. And it's such a wonderful
idea. So Kate Clanchy worked as a writer in residence at Oxford Spires school in Oxford,
and that's a school that's attended by a lot of the immigrant children in Oxford. So it's
this amazingly diverse student body. Everybody is a minority there, including the white students.
There are over 30 languages spoken at the school. And Kate Clanchy has been mentoring
them to write poetry. So this is a really really beautiful collection, and I'm so sure
this is the beginning of the careers of so many of the students in this book. They're
going to go on to be the exciting new poets of the next generation.
And I think the verse that best sums up this collection is right at the beginning. This
is again the last few lines, of a poem called 'I want a poem' by Shukria Rezaei.
Let your poetry texture the blank paper
like a prism splitting light Don't leave without seeing all the colours.
I think that so perfectly sums this up, and I'm so excited to see what's going to come
next from the writers in this book. Some of them are only 12, they go all the way up to
18, I just think that really exciting things are going to happen from them.
And then I've got The New Testament by Jericho Brown. And this was really clever because
he takes biblical stories and then subverts them to tell his story, and his experience
of being a black gay man living in America. And it's a great mix of talking at the political
level, and also talking on a really personal level.
And my favourite bit in this one... This is in the middle of a poem called 'Heart Condition.'
I wander the other like any African American, Africa
With its condition and America with its condition And black folk born in this nation content
to carry Half of each. I shoulder my share.
I found that bit particularly moving but there are so many really really moving moments in
this collection.
Now one thing I was really excited to see when I was exploring all these different poetry
collections, was to see how much poetry there is out there now for children.
So I looked at Everything All At Once by Steven Camden. And this is full of poems about things
that are relatable to young children. And all the things that they might not necessarily
be able to put into words. So it's talking about their friendships, and it's talking
about school, and struggling to listen in lessons, and all of those things that are
really important to children. And I think it's really great that there's poetry for
them to be able to relate their experiences to.
There were loads in here that were really fun, but I'm going to show you my favourite
one, it's called 'Outside French'. I'm just going to read you the whole thing because
it's really short.
I'm a dot in one of those pictures made up of dots
the ones where you zoom out and see
the face of Yoda Only in this one when you zoom out
You just see me much older.
And like, that still speaks to me now, and especially when I was young. It really speaks
to that experience when you have as a child of just constantly waiting to grow up, and
waiting to feel free and in your life, and actually then realising that you are part
of your future self. This is you on your way there. I just thought that was really great.
And now moving on to a slightly different type of collection. So as well as looking
at brand new poetry, I've also been looking at new collections that take older poems but
put them together and help you to see them in a new light.
So for example, this wonderful collection She Is Fierce, put together by Ana Sampson.
So this is a collection of poems by women, from ancient times all the way up to present
day. Some of these poems I'd never seen before, some of them I had read, but seeing them together
in this brand new context of celebrating womanhood and exploring the female experience, really
just painted them in a whole new light for me.
In this book, it feels like we're spanning the generations and exploring what it is to
be a woman, and what it has meant, how it's changed, what's always been the same, these
really undefinable qualities that there is no answer to, but having a whole book like
this of poetry is like hearing all these different opinions of what it might mean to be a woman.
And then another way that I wouldn't have thought of, of bringing new light to poems,
is through the illustrations. So this is Poems to Live Your Life By, a collection of poems
chosen by Chris Riddell and then illustrated. So they've got all these really gorgeous pictures
throughout, illustrating a lot of very well known poems, some that I hadn't heard before,
but all ones that obviously mean something to him. And seeing his pictures of them felt
like hearing someone analyse a poem that they love. Sometimes you might read a poem and
it might mean one thing to you, and then when you hear someone else describing what it means
to them, it's totally different, and it's really lovely to see their interpretation.
And seeing Chris Riddell's illustrations of the poems felt like that, it felt like this
very personal moment of hearing him explain why he likes these poems.
And one of the ones where I thought that worked the best was in the poem 'I miss you'. So
he really spreads out each line of the poem, illustrates each bit. And it really did make
me enjoy the poem more because each sentence has this whole longing captured within it.
It's so wonderfully done. And there's even one whole page that doesn't have any of the
writing, it's just this gap, this just longing for the person where they're missing on this
page.
It's really amazing seeing what illustrations can do for a book.
So those are all the books that I've got with me today, but I've got one more to mention.
While we're talking about change ahead on the poetry landscape, there's a really brilliant
collection coming out later this year, and that is the last collection by Carol Ann Duffy
in her role as the Poet Laureate.
It's called 'Sincerity', and it's all about remembrance, which is pretty fitting as we
remember her last ten years in that role.
And now that I've spent some time exploring what poetry looks like today, I'm really excited
to see who will be the next to take the Poet Laureate role, and what they will do to change
the poetry landscape even further.
So do leave me a comment letting me know what your favourite poetry collection is, and if
you've always liked poetry or if it's something you've rediscovered newly like me. And do
give this video a thumbs up if you liked it, and hit that subscribe button below, because
we post new videos every Thursday. And next week on Book Break, we're going to be looking
at the lost characters of the Jungle Book.
See you next time!