A recording from the National Poetry Library's Special Edition series. Readings from poets featured in the anthology ‘Before Them, We’, featuring Clementine E Burnley, Tania Nwachukwu, Gboyega Odubanjo and Hodan Yusuf, celebrating the significance of African diaspora familial relationships. Hosted by Ruth Sutoyé and introduced by Will René. Recorded in the National Poetry Library on Wednesday 7 September 2022. Photograph: Ruth Sutoyé, by Gifty Dzenyo.

Before Them, We

In this episode of our podcast, you will hear Tricia talking about the poem that has been a friend to her: ’Prayer' by Carol Ann Duffy.

We are delighted to feature 'Prayer' in this episode and would like to thank Carol Ann Duffy for granting us permission to use her poem in this way.

Tricia visited The Poetry Exchange at The Poetry Library at Southbank Centre in August 2015. We’re very grateful to The Poetry Library for hosting The Poetry Exchange. Do visit them for further inspiration!

http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk

Tricia is in conversation with The Poetry Exchange team members, Fiona Lesley Bennett and Alistair Snell.

'Prayer' is read by Fiona Lesley Bennett.

‘Prayer’ from Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy. Published by Picador, 2013. Copyright © Carol Ann Duffy. Reproduced by permission of the author c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W 11 1JN

*****

Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

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5. Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy - A Friend to Tricia

Poetry International celebrates it's 50th anniversary this year. 
Established in 1967 by Ted Hughes and Patrick Garland, the festival aimed to bring together poets as the 'voice of spirit and imagination'. 

Southbank Centre has recently begun to explore it's extensive collection related to the festival for the first time. We uncovered a range of material including letters to and from Ted Hughes, 50 year old programmes, photographs and very beautiful correspondence between Lavinia Greenlaw and Sharon Olds from nearly 25 years ago.   

To mark this special occasion, Southbank Centre has commissioned poets Hannah Silva and Victoria Adukwei Bulley to write new  poems responding to our collection.
As part of this podcast you will be able to gain a unique insight into the collection from a range of views. 

You will also  hear from poets Chris McCabe and Sophie Mayer who share some their key moments in the history of poetry! 


"I look at poems as experiments in sound"
Victoria Adukwei Bulley 

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/124366-poets-guide-archive-2017

A Poet's Guide to the Archive

Matt Abbott reads the first in a new series of poetry commissions for the Arts Council Collection inspired by Yorkshire Sculpture Parks’ latest National Partners exhibition, Revolt & Revolutions.

Image: Martin Boyce, Souvenir Placards (Standard Edition). Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. © the artist. Gift of Charles Saatchi.

Revolt & Revolutions (2018) by Matt Abbott

Jess Atkinson and Chris McCabe, both from the National Poetry Library talk us through the new kids on the poetry block - instapoets. These guys have got millions of die-hard followers and many have got multiple book deals

Come along to view the world's first Instagram poetry exhibition, showcasing the best of over 1,000 Instapoetry submissions to the National Poetry Library.

The exhibition provides the perfect introduction to this emergent form of poetry.

Share your experience using #instapoetrylib.

What is an Instapoet?

The National Poetry Library is the largest public collection of modern poetry in the world. Based at Southbank Centre, we are free and open to all.

Before Them, We

National Poetry Library

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