Comment | It's inspiring to see how many poets there are now in the city
Dr Lisa Blower, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Keele University. This column first appeared as a Personally Speaking column in the Stoke Sentinel in March 2025.
The Potteries. A belching, smoking, grimy fug of high production and by royal design. A place that made things, did things, had things going on. Dreams? They made plenty. Some even came true.
I've often taken influence from my Potteries writerly tree which is why Sitting Ducks, my debut novel, doffs its cap to Arthur Berry's poetry. Dandelions, my favourite, taught me how to treat place like writing a character.
In this place of empty chapels and aborted kilns / By the still smouldering fires /that burn the mattresses of the recently dead / These sour yellow flowers raise their heads. Berry's poetry is often like looking at my childhood photographs; his Ode to Oatcakes "best eaten at weekend" (never with a knife and fork!), and "dolly tubs full of lobby that pull us through". We all know a 'Lanky Fred' and 'A Man in Boote Street,' as my nan was partial to 'imitation hyacinths, arranged a little stiffly' on family graves. As Arnold Bennett wrote in Clayhanger – "beauty was achieved, and none saw it." But we did. And still do.
Since launching the 100 Books in a 100 Years project, I'm inspired by how many poets are writing in the city now; how many of you have contacted me about a grandparent's poetry collection or one that's been gifted and passed down the generations. Berry turns 100 this year, so it'd be remiss of me to not celebrate this city's poetry of the past with the poets writing now. Which is why tomorrow - Friday, March 21st - we will host The Poetry Busk at Newcastle library for World Poetry Day.
Established by UNESCO in 1999, the day is founded on the transformative power of words to challenge perspectives and inspire positive change. Our aim then is to bring together published, hobbyist, and student poets with readers and appreciators - read your own work, the poems you love or just sit and listen. "Poetry has become an art form which has encouraged communities to come together, helping us to understand and express the way we are feeling," says Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities at Staffordshire County Council. "And libraries are all about 'words' and 'communities.'"
It's also an opportunity to perform alongside our brilliant hosts - Staffordshire Poet Laureate and Keele alumni Scarlett Ward – owner of poetry publisher Fawn Press, the award-winning Penkhull-born poet Natalie Linh Bolderston, UniSlam contender Ikarah Woodvine, and Centenary Poet Laureate Nick Degg will close the busk with a 30 minute performance from 3.30pm. As Nick says, "poetry can be powerful, exciting, engaging, but most of all, great fun."
It's true that poetry has seen a resurgence since the pandemic. "It's an incredibly potent way of connecting people making it the ultimate community-building exercise," says Scarlett Ward, and Natalie Linh Bolderston who's won both the Eric Gregory and Rebecca Swift poetry prizes agrees: "Poetry gives people a chance to bond creatively and to look at our home through a lens of wonder and warmth."
The Poetry Busk has been made possible by the Keele Key Fund at Keele University thanks to the generous philanthropic gifts from alumni and supporters. "This is our wider Keele community celebrating talent and creativity across the generations," says Lauren Huss, Head of Alumni and Supporter Engagement. "It will inspire and engage, whilst highlighting the vital role of the creative industries in our local area."
We are delighted then to be reading the poems of Stan Beckensall MBE, one of Keele's first alumni, who, at 92, is still writing poetry, and therefore apt to use his words to sum up what the Poetry Busk hopes to do - "Delighting those who pass by with a sense of wonder" – and if not this time around, look out for our Poetry Busk on National Poetry Day on October 2nd.
The Poetry Busk at Newcastle Library, 12-4pm Friday 21st March 2025
Book your slot now: Newcastle.library@staffordshire.gov.uk / 01782-485312 or just turn up on the day.