OK. Before I tell you the end of this story, I need to be honest. At the time of writing, it’s been 6 weeks since the final trip. The world is a very different place. I wish I could have known then what I know now. But I didn’t.
The truth is, the day after the UK went into lockdown, I got on a train and went to Jaywick to deliver the last 3 poems. It was an act of stupidity. But, before I carry on, I just want to try and explain:
Continue reading “The Final Trip- Part 2”
Captain’s Log 16/03/20 09:29
I’m on a train, heading from Newcastle to London, on my way to deliver the last 4 poems I will ever write as a Door-to-Door Poet. The plan is to check into a (relatively) cheap hotel in Kensington, visit Mahika’s house nearby, then get up the next day and go to Jaywick, where I’ll drop off the other 3. Continue reading “The Final Trip- Part 1”
The day after I knocked on Buckingham Palace, I got straight on a train to Essex. I needed to find 3 people to write a poem for to finish this year-long project, and events were moving faster than I’d hoped. The number of Coronavirus cases in the UK jumped from 39 to 115 in two days, there was talk of entire cities going into lockdown anytime soon.
Continue reading “Jaywick- The End of the Road”
It was Monday the 2nd of March. On the surface, everything was normal. Restaurants were still open, stag parties downed cans and sang on public transport. In amongst it, I was trying to finish my Door-to-Door project.
Continue reading “Buckingham Palace, Grosvenor Crescent, etc.”
Captain’s Log 26/02/20 11:09
I’m in a car in Kent, holding 3 poems. Sitting next to me is Dan, a caseworker from Migrant Help- a charity that offers support to refugees and asylum seekers. In the back is Eklas, an Arabic interpreter, who is now faced with the unenviable task of translating what’s in my hand.
Continue reading “Poems for Syrian Families”
Folkestone in Kent was the third last place I’d be visiting on my journey all around England. I decided to go after running a poetry workshop for an organisation called Migrant Help.
Migrant Help is a charity that offers support to refugees and asylum seekers. Continue reading “Kent- Syrian Families”
Captain’s Log 13/12/19 12:03
It’s Friday the 13th and I’m back at St Gemma’s Hospice. It’s the day after the general election and everything feels [amazing/apocalyptic] delete where appropriate. I’m here to deliver my poems for Lewis, Murray and Sharon, who are all patients here and are all approaching the end of their lives. Continue reading “St Gemma’s Delivery”
I first found out about St Gemma’s Hospice when I got an e-mail from Clare, whose actual job title was the ‘Head of Transformation’. She’d heard about me going door-to-door, writing poems for residents, and she wondered if I’d be up for getting involved in a different opportunity. St Gemma’s, she explained, is a charity that offers palliative and end of life care, for free, to the people of Leeds. Would I be interested in writing some poems for the patients? Continue reading “St Gemma’s Hospice”
Captain’s Log 19/10/19 11:50
I’m back on Lundy Island, delivering my poems for the residents. Continue reading “Lundy Drop Off”
From the moment I found out about the existence of Lundy, I knew I had to do Door-to-Door Poetry there. An island in the Bristol Channel, it’s 3 miles long and half a mile wide. Ran by the Landmark Trust, it boasts a resident population of 28 people, including a warden, some bar staff, and a farmer. Continue reading “Lundy Island”
