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Posted on March 4th 2019
Poet Clare Mulley Inspires Young City Poets
Poet Clare Mulley popped into school on Tuesday to run a poetry workshop with some Year 7 and 8 students. The workshop was the second instalment of the National Literacy Trust’s Young City Poets project, following the students' visit to the Tower of London last month.
During the workshop, the girls explored a poetic form called a ghazal made famous by Persian poets Rumi and Hafiz. The students also wrote their own poems using the ghazal structure. You can read their fabulous poems at the bottom of this page.
Clare gave the girls the freedom and support they needed to explore a wide range of topics in their poems: some of the poems were inspired by a recent trip to The Tower of London, whilst other girls wrote poems about feminism and mental health. One student even contemplated the realities of a post-truth world in her work.
What students said...
Faizat had a fabulous time and described the workshop as "enlightening and inspiring". Rodiyat admitted that she doesn’t normally like poetry but that her trip to the Tower of London and the time she spent with Clare has inspired her to write more poetry as it’s a great way for her to express herself.
"I was very proud of the work produced by the students during the workshop," said Ms Morris. "I was particularly impressed by the atmosphere of support and creativity that Clare created as it allowed the girls to step away from their insecurities and express their thoughts and feelings."
A big thank you to Clare Mulley and the Young City Poets project.
Our students ghazal poems
By Oladimeji
It is simplistically complex, the injustice of humanity,
Engulfed and entwined by psychological morality.
It is an oppressing concern, unable to stop it,
Because as humans, we involuntarily encourage it.
The ineptitude to define the complexity of life
Is both literally and metaphorically a subject of political ties.
For some, the finality of the truth has always been a political illusion,
And as humans we don't tend to question an alternative solution.
We struggle to question what’s really in front of us
In fear of ruining our social status
And the inability to question our controversial society,
Is the inability to question the true appearance of reality.
My Ghazal, By Faizat
Do you even care?
The people you trample on
The people you mock
Do they even matter?
Do you even care?
The babies you steal candy from
The children you hurt
Do they even matter?
Do you even care?
The pain you cause
The sorrow you bring
Does it even matter?
Do you even care?
The sadness you share
The hope you extinguished
Does it even matter?
Do you even care?
The countries you lay waste to
The families you rip apart
Do they even matter?
Do you even care?
The happiness you rip apart
The people you claim to be below you
Do they even matter?
By Rodiyat Ayeni
A swaying walk down the road
Life spreads everywhere
Dancing through night
Lights parade
Scented foods from around the world
Colours shine round the globe
Families reunite
Laughing all day long
Music buzzes through me like a bumble bee
Celebration for every occasion
I would like to take part please
By Serena, whose poem was based on the terrible events of the Holocaust.
You didn’t have a voice when you needed one
No one could give it to you
At that time you didn’t have a clue
About what they would do to you
It was only the memories that could get you through
All of the trauma that had happened to Serena Dundas
Up in the tower you aren’t a threat, by Isamar
You are up in a tower, locked and scared
In your own country supposedly “free”
Tried and guilty but guilty for what?
You’re posing a threat
Alone up there, like some type of Rapunzel
A princess, condemned to die alone
Because you cannot be the true you.
Beliefs. What are beliefs?
Things that everyone thinks differently. Right?
The silence drives you crazy,
You pull yourself bank into reality.
Maybe just maybe you were born in the wrong time,
Maybe you’ll be born in a fairer time; later after you die.
Sympathy For Life, by Sweatha
Droplets wriggle down
Splashing on to the concrete surface.
Why?
Sitting down hanging your head with shame. Why?
Is it because of the situations you needed to face?
Or is it because there is no time to tie your lace?
Depressed, as well as being bullied by the insecure,
But needs time to consider about being sure.
More heart-breaking shocks
Make your emotions turn in depression
Guilt, have you done anything wrong?
As well being tortured by the throng.
Drip drop eyes as scarlet as roses
Drip drop are there like poses.
Lost as a spirit, searching wherever you go but nothing
But nothing
But nothing
But nothing...
Life is about sympathy
