One of the things I remember most clearly about my days at school is being asked by an English teacher who my favourite poet was, which of their poems I liked the most, and to use this information to explain what the purpose of poetry is?
Needless to say, I got the answer wrong. At this point I should explain that my English teacher was the sort of man who could have been the inspiration for John Keating the teacher played by the late Robin Williams in the Dead Poets Society. He was inspirational. He was passionate about his subject and he communicated that love of the written word and the English language so enthusiastically that he could read a page of text out loud to a class of stroppy teenagers and have us transfixed, believing that the characters where about to leap from the page. It is one of my enduring disappointments that I was not his star pupil. Maybe I should have selected Keats, Bryon or at least Wordsworth, but alas my favourite didn’t really pass muster. Neither did my favourite poem.
Given the weakness of my source material my attempts at defining the purpose of a poem were doomed from the start. But, what he told me has stuck with me to this day, becoming the measure by which I judge all poets. A poem should challenge the way in which you look at the world and enable you to see a different perspective.
That is what the poetry of Pam Ayres has been doing for me since my school days. Miss Ayres is both a poet with excellent comedic ability so she can build a story with multiple punchlines and also a comedian with the ability to tell jokes that rhyme. Like most of us she can spot those absurd details of our everyday lives, but unlike most of us she is able to redefine these so that, even if we do not see the world differently, we can at least for that moment see ourselves as other people see us. It could be a painful experience but in her writing and performance Miss Ayres has a knack for subtle catchphrases, which she delivers in an understated manner that suggests she doesn’t know that we know that she is poking fun at us. We do, but no one is going to tell.
Pam Ayres has been a successful writer, broadcaster and entertainer for four decades, regularly selling out shows around the world, and writing collections of poetry like The Works, With These Hands, Surgically Enhanced and You Made Me Late Again! that have regularly featured in best seller lists. She will be starting her autumn 2017 UK tour at York Theatre Royal on 15th September.
If you are lucky enough to get a ticket you are guaranteed an entertaining evening of poetic comedy that will appeal to every member of the family, delivered with expert precision, so that your sides will ache and your smile will last for days.
Unfortunately, my English teacher did not share my appreciation of the poetry of Pam Ayres, but other teachers do, her poems feature in school textbooks around the world from USA, China, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, South Africa, Ireland and Singapore.