Hot, hot days and nights, and the city in turmoil with terrorist events and the terrible fire in Kensington have made it impossible to celebrate this midsummer. I hope the Open Garden Squares day in Markham Square offered a small space for reflection, with leaf-poems fluttering in the gazebo and garden-lovers finding verses planted in the borders alongside the delphiniums and philadelphus. After weeks of immersion and writing, I found that the garden had inspired a surprising amount of poems, with more still at the development stage.
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I felt very privileged to have the opportunity to 'reside', research and write in this secret garden square - thanks to the residents, The Poetry School and Open Garden Squares. I learned a lot more about making the most of a residency. In particular, for me all the most important inspirations came from the people I met there. Chance remarks by François, the gardener, about the small treasures he has dug up in the beds over the years - a marble made of marble, a sea-washed pebble - threw me back into the historic and prehistiric past of the site where now there is a garden, little pieces of people's personal histories attached to the place... a pet bird buried under a tree, a treetop visible from a Heathrow-bound plane.
I'm also continuing work on a poem sequence inspired by the leaves I brought home, pressed and ironed to make poem leaflets. The leaves have given me a light, airy way to write; I'm still chasing them.
I'm also continuing work on a poem sequence inspired by the leaves I brought home, pressed and ironed to make poem leaflets. The leaves have given me a light, airy way to write; I'm still chasing them.
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