Kelso Abbey
The clock with four faces!
Poetry is a
wonderful thing. In only a few
concentrated lines the essence of a particular observation can be caught. That observation may be anchored in a moment
in time but through rhythm and image can reverberate back through history as
well as capture the present. It can even
build a word picture of an imagined future.
In the
process you can discover or in many cases re discover a subject, a person or place.
For me this
happened recently when I was asked to work with two classes one from Yetholm Primary
and one from Morebattle Primaries on the project ‘Discover Kelso.’
I have been
to Kelso many times over the years and maybe it had become too familiar as many
things and places do but through working with the young poets I felt I had re
discovered Kelso all over again.
Kelso is
going through a lot of changes at the moment.
The historic town centre being regenerated as part of the Kelso
Townscape Heritage Initiative.
(THI) ‘Discover Kelso’ is part of
that initiative. Its contribution to
this regeneration is through observation, thought and emotion distilled into
the concentrated lines and stanzas of the young poets.
My remit in
working with the schools was to look at those changes through the theme of ‘Kelso
Town Centre, Past and Present.’
We began to
engage with that environment and to build our poems by visiting the town centre
and noting down what we saw and what we heard.
We noted these down under
four headings: SHOPS ETC; CARS ETC;
PEOPLE; OTHER.
Not
worrying at that stage of how it would fit together, or not, into a poem. The aim was to be like an artist sketching
only in words observations both with the eye and the ear.
This is
where I began to re discover Kelso myself.
I looked again at the familiar sights.
In quite a few instances I felt I saw them really for the first
time. For instance the four faces of the
town clock high above the town centre. I had never truly looked at it and how
intricate and ornate the face and hands are.
Like the
pupils I also closed my eyes and listened to the multitude of sounds for
instance cars rattling over cobbles, birds squawking, JCB rumblings, drills
drilling and many more.
After this
and in sessions back at the schools we worked our notes up into possible
stanzas. This was the first stage in
choosing the most powerful images and sounds the ones remembered and clear long
after the visit to the town centre. If
the image and sounds stick with the poet they are more likely to connect with
the reader and listener of the poem.
We started each
stanza with the phrase ‘Let Me Tell You’ and in subsequent lines built up the
poem.
I produced
examples as guides to form but only as a guide each young poet free to bring their
own observations and feelings about their environment to fruition in their own
form and in their own poem.
MY STRUCTURE EXAMPLE
Two different ways to write the stanza—you can use both but if using
both try to use different images in each.
1— one image and write about that only to develop thoughts.
2— A series of images—one per line.
Try to write no more than 4 lines per stanza
SHOPS ETC (inc all buildings)
1- Let me tell you about
A clock with four faces
Hands pointing
North, south, east and west.
2---Let me tell you about
A clock with four faces.
Hotel
keys crossed but lost.
OTHER
1--Let me tell you about
Cobbled streets
Like a range of tiny mountains
Crossed by Gulliver feet.
2--Let me tell you about
Cobbled streets.
A song of voices.
FINAL STANZA
Let me tell you about
A place
Where past and present and
future meet.
Back in the
classroom we discussed how to finish your poem by bringing your observations
and feelings together in a final summoning up stanza. The above again was only an example. The pupils didn’t have to sum up if they felt
it didn’t suit their poem.
I had a
final session visiting the schools and listening to works in progress and
offering feedback where I could. It was
just a joy to listen to the poems. They
read their poems exceptionally well with a real feel for the words and for what
they had captured in those words.
The
resulting poems are an incredible variety of observations as said anchored in a
moment in time but through rhythm and image reverberating back through history
as well capturing the present.
Those poems
are now published in a magnificent looking booklet. I’m very privileged to be included.
This is my
poem.
DISCOVER KELSO
TOM MURRAY
Let me tell you about
A clock
with four faces
Hands
pointing
North,
south, east and west.
Let me tell
you about
Yellow
coated workmen
Shaping the
present
From the
past.
Let me tell
you about
A car park
of cars
Resting
between journeys.
Let me tell
you about
Cobbled
streets
Like a
range of tiny mountains
Crossed by
Gulliver feet.
Let me tell
you about
A place
Where past
and present and future meet.
‘Discover
Kelso’ not only involved primary schools but Kelso High School as well.
In part two
of being involved in the project I visited the High School to work with first
year pupils and teachers in the English department on their poems.
This
involved a session with one class at a time on poems they had already started in
class where I offered feedback and suggestions on how they could develop their
ideas further. Again the imagination and
feel for image and words was evident throughout.
It is hoped
that some of these poems might be exhibited during the summer in Kelso.
A huge
thanks to all the young poets, the teachers and the staff of all the schools
involved. I thoroughly enjoyed myself
and felt I got so much out of it by working with the young poets, teachers and
schools.
Also big
thanks to SBC Creative Learning Team within Arts Development in particular
Kelsey Jubin for her fantastic work on the booklet and for asking me to
participate.
‘Discover
Kelso’ is a partnership project between Historic Scotland, SBC Environment and
Infrastructure and SBC Creative Learning Team within Arts Development. The
project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland and the
Scottish Borders Council.
More
information regarding Kelso THI can be found on the Scottish Borders Council
website www.scotborders.gov.uk