Poetry writing

Bridge College held a Poetry Week which started on 23rd May 2011. To get the poetic thoughts going, a Manchester-based performance poet was invited to the event for two workshops with the students.

Tony Walsh aka ‘Longfella’ led two, two hour sessions where he performed a few of his own poems and also supported the students in writing poems of their own. All of the participants were fully immersed in the writing task and some great lines of poetry were created based on the students’ favourite things, places and people.

Some students’ lines of poetry created during the workshops are below...

I wrote the poem…
I wrote the poem that made me play footy,
At half time I was hungry so had a cheese butty (Ben).
I wrote the poem to get the date with Duffy,
She sang me a song and made me feel fluffy (Dan).
I wrote the poem that was loved by nerds,
I went on my iPad and played Angry Birds (Hannah C).
I wrote the poem, made volcanoes erupt,
Stopped all the planes because of the dust (Johnathan).
I wrote the poem about my dog, Tia,
She went to Blackpool and fell off the pier (Ryan).
I wrote the poem that made people Skype,
But not brother Alec, he’s not the type (Matthew).
I wrote the poem about next year’s place,
Trafford is where I’ll show my face (Trinh).
I wrote the poem about my favourite colour red,
And my favourite song ‘Can’t get you out of my head’ (Craig).
I wrote the poem that was totally random,
To the goats, hippos and cats on a tandem (Aaron).
I wrote the poem that took me to Leicester,
I showed it my Mum and it really impressed her! (Ghulam).
I wrote the poem about Chester my pet,
He barks at the window and makes people fret.
He jumps on the sofa and makes my mum mad,
But he’s just a big softy and not all that bad (Michael).
I wrote the poem that ended this verse,
Want any more?? You must call the nurse!
We all had fun, the morning was stella,
Thanks to a poet called ‘Longfella’ (aka Tony Walsh).

Written by Bridge College students

I thought it would be fitting if I also wrote a poem about the Poetry Week.

Here it is…
I wrote this poem for Poetry Week,
An event, some laughs, a bit tongue in cheek.
A timetable of fun, verse and some rhyme,
The poems, they flowed, line after line.
They came thick and fast and slow and thin,
Even the staff showed they had poems within.
A poet called Longfella was asked to come,
“We needs some good poems, we need poetry fun!!”
He came with his verse and a small note pad,
All students and staff were ever so glad.
He gave us a morning of poems galore,
After he had finished we were begging for more.
Longfella was smashing and very tall to boot,
His poems accessible and to all they did suit.
He gave us ideas and techniques to try out,
And now there’s no stopping us, OMG, look out!!
I recommend Longfella if you like poetry,
He’ll be back some day, mark my words…you’ll see!!

Written by Will Lyon after the poetry session with Tony Walsh aka ‘Longfella’