Is that a poem in your pocket (or are you just glad to see the same old cliché …)?

How do you view your co-workers? In the maelstrom of the working day, are they friends, irritances, the grumpy boss, the techie boy who only talks to computers, or just the girl in the office who answers the phone? Do they have a cultural life? Do they think you have one?

Sometimes, an event happens that makes you think differently about people and shakes you out of your comfortable little world where everyone has their office role. Like last Thursday, 14 April – or Poem in Your Pocket Day, to be exact. If you haven’t heard of it before, the idea is to carry a favourite poem with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends. ‘Co-workers,’ I hear you mutter as you look round at them. ‘Do they even know what a poem is?’ Well, they might just surprise you! The first person to start it off in my workplace was someone I know is a keen poet, so it wasn’t really a surprise. She emailed a poem that was lovely, new to me and I enjoyed reading it, and I thought that would be the end of it. But then someone else sent one round. And then someone else after that. And another. Including the techie boy and the office girl. The mix of poems was eclectic and beautiful; poets ancient and modern, local, national and international. Soon almost everyone joined in and we had a veritable poetry avalanche. We even talked about them and shared ideas and links! I was amazed and delighted and I do now look at my co-workers with a different eye. I’d never imagined that the elderly academic in the corner was a Clash fan back in the 70s, who has never lost their love for punk poetry. Or that the seemingly hard-headed businessman is a sucker for the Romantics. My workplace now has a little buzz going, and is all the better for it. I can’t wait to see next year’s poems.

What poem did I send round? John Cooper Clarke’s Haiku. What, not his best known number, you cry? No, I’m too Evidently Chickentown for that - I need this job to pay the bills!

The Rough South of Harry Crews Part One

What does it take to be a short story/novel writer/poet? It takes work.

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Write On Write Up – March 2011

This month we relaunched the Write On Essex blog as a space for discussion of all matters authorial. Members of the group are now avidly posting items in the hope of igniting the spark of creativity. The blog can be viewed and commented on by anyone and it would be great if we could develop it into a truly useful resource for budding writers everywhere.

Our monthly meeting on 28 March was an opportunity to have another go at the first-line writing exercise – excellent news as we could all show up unprepared and guilt-free! That being said, WoE member Shar shared with us a very honest and incredibly moving account of her parents’ marriage. The story flowed effortlessly; it was a strong and concise piece of writing that we hope to see in her completed short story cycle.

The first-line exercise was new to a few group members and although they found it something of a challenge (which is not to say that the rest of us found it easy, we’re just more used to it), it really is an excellent way to escape your comfort zone; in only five minutes of writing time you can only go with your first impulse and ignore the stifling criticism of the censor in your head. The exercise definitely yielded a few promising scenarios and gems of verbiage.

Our March meeting also saw us bid farewell to Camilla, who is departing for “the city of dreaming spires”. She will be much missed by us all, but I’m sure she’ll find plenty of inspiration in her new home. We hope she will keep in touch and perhaps continue to share her excellent poetry with us at Write On Essex. For the rest, the next meeting is on 18 April.