Guest post by Lizi Patch. Lizi can be found on Twitter @lizipatch or you can have a look at the poetry page on Lizi’s website.
I cannot walk through a cemetery without stopping, sitting, staring and thinking. However late this will make me. I can always justify it here of all places… “You’re a long time dead”
I really like cemeteries. A cemetery is a place where all the real and virtual chattering that inhabits my life cannot reach and I can focus on other people in a silent way. Granted these people are ‘gone’, but their lives hold a potency that I can very easily get lost in.
And birdsong is always so loud in cemeteries. Even in the middle of a city somehow.
I’ve written poetry in cemeteries which I have never shared (maybe I will now). I have written a whole scene set in a cemetery in my latest play – in fact it was two scenes and I call it a graveyard – but playwrights always call them graveyards. Sounds so much more dramatic I suppose.
So when I was approached by Jan Cleary from the Friends of Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery, Scarborough, and asked if I would be interested in being one of the judges for their cemetery themed poetry competition (funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund) you’d think I would have jumped at the chance.
But in fact I thought, “Why would anybody read my poetry and assume I was a potential judge of ANYTHING, let alone poetry”.
This is not me being clunkily modest or casting the old fishing rod out – this is fact. My poetry is ok. I like it and so do some others – BUT it is anything but lyrical and descriptive, but rather more abrupt mini-narratives on momentary chunks of my life that would quite happily pass un-noticed by anyone but myself – if I would only let that be the case.
But then I got to thinking “isn’t this the point?” (bear with me here, nearly done)… I have gone into various Yr 10 and Yr 11 classes as a ‘professional artist’ and spent whole terms working with them on exactly why poetry is pretty much anything you fancy writing down. There is artistry involved, but that artistry comes from simply writing down what you want to say about the subject, using the words you choose in the order you choose to put them on the page. If you really want to go to second base you can look carefully at what you have written down and edit it, making sure that the reader gleans something of your original meaning… or you can do that thing where you say ‘it can mean many things to many people’. This is NOT a cop out, this is not wishy washy. You are the author and as long as you are as happy with your piece of writing as you can be, then your job is done. Let the others decide. That is truly great art… (discuss!).
So I said, “Yes, it would be an honour”. Because it is. It is absolute honour to read and lose myself in everyone else’s musings written in response to my favourite theme: People’s lives lived, real or imagined. The beauty and peace of the cemetery. The history of us.
And someone is going to judge it… so it may as well be me.
So, it’s over to you. And I can’t wait to read what you come up with. I’m massively indecisive so it may take a while and hopefully the other two Judges, James Koppert, (also known as The Edger, a rap artist and poet who lives in Scarborough and Jamie McGarry (founder of Valley Press, which specialises in poetry) will help speed things along.
DETAILS OF THE COMPETITION
As part of the Heritage Lottery funded Secret Garden project the Friends group is launching a cemetery themed-poetry competition. Any original poem inspired by the cemetery, from a haiku to a sonnet, from a saga to a rap, is eligible to be entered.
The competition is open to all. If you fancy having a go then you are the right person to enter.
People may be inspired by the artwork on the headstones, the real or imagined lives of the people remembered on them, the trees, flowers and wildlife, the buildings and history, childhood memories of the Secret Garden, or simply the atmosphere of the whole place.
We want adults and children to be able to get involved, so there will be separate sections for different age groups, with 8 and under, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, and 16 and over. There will be prizes for each section, sponsored by Valley Press and the Mayoress’ Fund.
If you can’t get there for any reason, have a look at our website, www.scarboroughcemeteries.co.uk which is full of images of all aspects of the cemetery, as is our Facebook page (Friends of Dean Rd and Manor Rd Cemetery).
To enter the competition send your entry by e-mail to scarboroughcemeteries@googlemail.com
or by post to The Poetry Competition, 5 Franklin St, Scarborough, YO12 7JU.
Let us have your name, age and contact details.. The winners will be announced at our grand celebration day in the cemetery on Sunday 9th September, where the poems will be displayed for all to see. The closing date for entries is 31st July 2012.