Clowns and Poetry

Friday 29th October, 2021

Clowns and Poetry

During the month, and via DD Arts Birmingham, I was involved in a project researching the relationship between Clowning and Wellbeing.  There will be three short films on YouTube demonstrating this work – they are being edited as I write.

During the sessions I was struck by the notion that there is a strong similarity between Clowning and Poetry.  Clowns and Poets have the ability to examine something seemingly simple and show us that there may well be something profound going on. For instance, in William Carlos Williams’ The Wheelbarrow or my own Universe in an Acorn.  In the films mentioned above, look out for, for instance, Happy Birthday.  A similar thing can be seen going on in visual arts, for instance in van Gogh’s The Chair, when we might be encouraged to think about, not only, the chair, but also what has, what might be going on in the room?

The featured poem this month is Clown; a personal response to the Clowning project and the work of those involved.

Clowns come in all shapes and sizes, and there is great beauty in them.  Another similarity with poems.  

Reading

I’ve completed reading Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled.  This is a terrific book for people seriously interested in writing poetry.  Fry examines in detail many forms of poetry.  He seems a bit down on free verse; he isn’t.  He doesn’t like what often goes for free verse today – a simple pouring out of emotion on the page, with too little attention to exactness of language, rhythm, meaning and so on.  It’s had me going back and tightening up a lot of poems – much to their improvement.  I’ve also read Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd.  Marvellous storytelling.  A great eye for character, landscape, work detail that tells us huge amounts.

What I am Up To

I’m busy writing new poems and checking back over old ones (see Stephen Fry above.)  I’m also in the early stages of developing a podcast idea with a visually impaired friend, fingers crossed for that one.  Also thinking about a follow-on from the Clowns project mentioned above.  This would be a big project so would need careful thinking about.

Final Thoughts

Don’t forget the regular Tuesday Poems on twitter.  You might also spot occasional Clerihews on Sundays; these will be occasional, not because of the time taken to write them, but to find suitable individuals to lampoon.  Pritti Patel has already gone out, on the touch line are Kier Starmer and Boris Johnson.

Thanks for reading this.  Best wishes.