Pupils from Harrow Gate Primary Academy asked:

'What initially inspired you to write poetry?'

First, hearing it spoken out loud…
... just for the glorious sound and rhythm of the words, whether I quite understood them or not.

Then, finding some of the lines still echoing in my head days later...
... which left me wondering: how do you make words do that – some kind of magic?

Then, reading the words on the page…
… and discovering more meanings in them each time I read them again, as if they kept on growing, but without getting any longer – very strange!

At last, thinking: maybe I could play that game too? Sitting down in the corner very quietly, with nobody looking, and having a go...
... discovering that I could think new thoughts, imagine more things, and notice more about the world around me, when I started to write.

And after that, I couldn't stop.

*

'Why do you think poetry is important?'

In a noisy world, full of people trying to sell us things or tell us their opinions, we need a quiet place inside ourselves where we can let it all settle, and find out what we really feel or think. Poetry can be a door that opens into that place. And yes, it's one we can share with our friends.

Published: 13 November, 2021

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