About:
Jasmine Gardosi likes to write about weird things in
unweird places - kind of like her, everywhere. She is the current
Cheltenham Poetry Festival Slam Champion, last year's Midlands Slam Champion,
has appeared on BBC Radio 3's The Verb and is a Birmingham Poet Laureate
finalist. She enjoys poking holes in taboos to see what comes
out.
Jasmine is one of the poets in residence who have joined us this summer as part of the Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival 2016.
I had the pleasure of working with a class full of inspiring, perceptive students on Monday’s workshop at King Edward VI School in Stratford. It’s right next to Shakespeare’s New Place, at which I’ve been working as a Poet in Residence over the summer. I came to run the workshop to give them a taste of spoken word poetry, debunk a few myths about Shakespeare, re-think how they use metaphors and let them have a go at writing their own poems.
Though only one member of the class was familiar with spoken word poetry, I was impressed by the group’s focus and how intently they got on with the exercises.. At one point, they wrote for 25 minutes straight, in silence. I’ve never had that in a workshop.
I was staggered by the poems that were shared at the end of the session - references to Chaucer, rap, intimate family themes and the monarchy. I wanted to hear all of them, really. There are some budding poets in the class; I’m excited to see a number of fantastic writers emerge from King Edward VI School in the next few years.
This was a one and a half hour well spent, and hopefully I’ve given the students the freedom to explore the poetry they might not have yet studied, and a bit of curiosity to find out more. Huge thanks to English teacher Nicholas Abbey; I was especially excited to see his copy of Kate Tempest on the teacher’s desk.
On the way back to my hometown Birmingham, I just so happened to bump into fellow Poet in Residence Jo Bell, who’s currently occupying the Station Cafe. Beware. The poets are everywhere.
You can find out more about the experiences of our ten poets in residence and hear extracts of the work they've been producing throughout the summer at our special showcase event, Unexpected Encounters.