Over the last couple of weeks in mentoring, we’ve been taking a few walks.
Getting out there.
Having a look around.
And writing it all down, sticking to our mantra: #nofilter.
We absolutely loved listening to Sinead Morrissey reading Frank O’Hara‘s 1960’s poem ‘A Step Away from Them’ (you can read the poem on the Poetry Foundation website, here.) We admired the way he recreates place for us so vividly and candidly (in his case, the place is New York City), along with the way he flits so naturally and conversationally between observations and deeper emotions of attachment and regret.
We followed this up with another poet harking back from the sixties, but in this case the poet hails from Russia. I introduced everyone to the poetry of Yevgeny Yevtushenko (you can check him out here) and we took a trip with him on his ‘Bicycle’, taking in the landscape, and the trauma of past history that ricochets out of his journeying.
(The only problem: so much inspiration, so little time!)
Today we will be continuing on our own journeys, each taking a different path, writing freely into place and experience.
I’m excited to see what my fabulous mentees produce …
(More of this soon.)
Elaine Baker - Poet 