Finding poetry has never been easier with the virtual shelves of the internet at our fingertips.
It has never been easier to find poetry in different languages, styles or on different themes. At the same time, the sheer abundance of poetry can be overwhelming. Where do you even start?
Apply Your Thinking:
The second activity is simply to find a new poem that you enjoy, that grabs you in some sort of way, even if it’s just a line or a word. Here are a few possible places to start:
- The Poetry Archive: The Poetry Archive is a fantastic resource of poetry which provides both the written text and a recording of the poet reading their work. If you go to the explore section, you can search poems by theme.
- The Poetry Health Service: The Poetry Health Service was set up by the poet Hafsah Bashir during lockdown. It’s a great place to start if you are completely new to poetry as the PHS sends you a poem based on various colour choices you make. It’s great fun!
- Poetry Foundation: The largest US Based poetry organisation.
- Badilisha Poetry X-change: An online audio archive and Pan-African poetry show.
- Lyrikline: Lyrikline is an international website for experiencing the diversity of contemporary poetry across language.
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Stop and Reflect:
Reflect on this:
- Did you find the activity easy or difficult?
- What was it about – the poem you’ve found that caught your attention? A word, a line, the whole thing?
- Try following Andrew’s advice and read the poem out loud to yourself. What difference does it make?
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