Oh, this Italian medical specialty thrills and scares me with its many 'O's: a mouthful of open mouths.
Alex Josephy Poet |
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A new acquaintance every day...
Oh, this Italian medical specialty thrills and scares me with its many 'O's: a mouthful of open mouths.
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Feeling exhilerated, exhausted, exfoliated by Poetry in the Garden, my poetry residency at Rainham Hall (part of Remixed Borders, thanks to Jesse the magical community gardener and all the great NT staff and voluteers at Rainham, the Poetry School and Open Garden Squares Weekend). I can't quite believe it's over - though I have promised to go back to the garden later this summer, to sit under a tree again and see if any more poems might arrive in my notebook. Or if not, to check how the insects are getting on in the Insect Mansion! The weekend started slowly but really got going on the Sunday. I'd offered to write insta-poems for those who completed the Poetry Voyage (a quiz trail with poems planted on canes around the garden), so spent much time scratching my head and asking anyone nearby for a rhyme for lily, or compost, or herbaceous. The poems on postcards were a sell-out success (an idea I picked up from fellow poets-in-residence in other gardens). In the end the readings were impromptu, whenever there were enough people around who'd said they'd like to hear some poems. Amazingly, quite a few did! And several people brought their own poems along to show me, too. I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity. I've learned about the hidden treasure of the garden at Rainham Hall, about how to organise a residency, how to write for a specific audience without forgetting to write for my own development too...and about 17th Century gardens 'in the Dutch style'. Amongst other things.
Now for a quick snooze. Just for a few moments... Open gardens weekend starts tomorrow. The garden looks amazing. The kettle's boiling. 29 poem saplings are ready to plant out in the morning. I'll be reading new poems at 12.30 both days. Happy to be there. Sad that the residency's about to come to an end.
Bravissimi, to all involved! @jessemuddyboots @RainhamHallNT ! and @poetryschool #remixedborders @opensquares #OGSW16 Remixed Borders is heading into the last week before the Open Gardens Weekend, 18/19 June.
Looking forward to it but there's still so much to do! Still working hard to get everything ready for the open day at Rainham Hall. Yesterday I spent time talking to some of the garden volunteers, and was once again impressed by the warm community that's been gathered there to restore the old house and garden and most importantly, to involve local people in this next chapter in its history. 'There's no point in just doing what I want to do with the garden. It's what they want that's important', says Jesse, the community gardener. I met Norman who constantly weeds the stone paths and Linda the Community Ambassador, who keeps a beautiful garden diary. You can see the moments of slog and triumph as the restoration of the garden continues. Best story this time... the arrival of the new green-painted metal garden shed. Lifted over the high garden wall by crane! 'It was just a shed, but oh, that was such a wonderful day!' I looked inside the Garden Memories box, and found a pile of postcards where volunteers, staff and visitors have written about gardens. Now the hard work part - to incorporate them into my 'crowd-sourced poem.' Spent a wonderful afternoon at Rainham Hall, getting ideas for more poems and planning for the open garden weekend with Jesse (@jessemuddyboots), the community gardener, who was leading a brilliantly mucky Muck-In Day with local children. Painting the insect mansion, rolling down the grassy hill (specially mowed to entice running and rolling!)
It's fascinating, gradually piecing together the history of the hall and people's memories of it through the centuries since it was built in 1729. Today I raided the friendly local library and found records of 'up river smugglers' sailing their illicit goods up the brackish waters of Rainham Creek. Also a transcript of an advertisement written by the sea captain who bult the house, full of words and phrases to delight a poet's heart. Some will find their way into the poems I'm writing for Remixed Borders. Then I walked back to the Hall, so excited I fell into a forget-me-not bed! Saturday 21st May, my first visit to Rainham Hall, where I'll be POET IN RESIDENCE for the next month, with open days on 18th and 19th June, as part of Open Garden Squares weekend . Rattly train from Fenchurch Street past Stratford, Barking, Dagenham Dock, timber yards, steel yards, tips, a plastic playground, a rainbow park bench. Then, a few steps from Rainham station and the marshland that leads down to the Thames, this Georgian sea captain's house, now managed by the National Trust, with the most unexpectedly lovely garden. I arrived just as Jesse (the community gardener) and a group of local kids had finished making a new insect mansion! Almost as impressive as Rainham Hall itself. What a welcoming place - and not just for earwigs! The garden's lovely - a great combination of careful planting, community involvement, and creative wilderness. I'll let the pictures do the talking... I came away with ideas buzzing in my head, and a lot of exisitng love and garden ideas to live up to. Might need to build another mansion to house them all.
oMy poem about the herb rosemary was displayed on the Ledbury Poetry Festival site, as part of Poetica Botanica, a collection of poems inspired by the Physic Garden at Hellen's Manor. The poem is about the herb, but the anziane (elderly women) who live in our street in Italy, and are such lovely neighbours, have somehow crept into it too...
Update! The poems from Poetica Botanica have now been published as a lovely anthology, 'The Physic Garden', edited by Adam Horowitz. You can buy a copy of the anthology here. Packing my books, getting ready to leave Italy and head back to London tomorrow, I was waylaid once more by Mel Pryor's amazing collection Small Nuclear Family (recently reviewed in the TLS). These poems are clever but never glib, bang up-to-date but full of lasting insight and humanity. Order a copy from Eyewear Publishing, (interesting indie publisher) before they sell out!
1st - 6th May 2016
Six London poets and friends on retreat at beautiful Il Rigo, near San Quirico in Tuscany. We walked, talked, explored local historic sites, were pilgrims for a few hours on the Via Francigena, bathed with the naiads in the hot springs at Bagno Vignoni, visited Annibale Parisi, artist and wine-maker and his family at Nostra Vita, and had loads of time to think, read, write and redraft. It was such a productive week - definitely on offer again next year! Very excited to be involved in Remixed Borders, a blooming brilliant London gardens poets-in-residence initiative!
It's organised by The Poetry School and The London Parks and Gardens Trust I'll be in the garden at Rainham Hall, Essex, on 18th and 19th June, digging up poems and getting inspiration, I hope, from leaves, stones, earth, insects, gardeners, spades, and everyone who comes to visit the beautiful house and garden during the open weekend www.nationaltrust.org.uk/rainham-hall I'll be visiting the garden in mid May to meet Jesse Lock, the organiser there, and will be posting updates from then on. Jesse tells me he will have been making insect hotels in the garden that morning - a very good place to start! I can't wait to see the garden... |
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October 2023
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Alex Josephy |