POETRY WORKSHOP
MILITARY BEARING
Alison Chisholm is impressed by a tribute poem that conjures strong images of the lifelong impact of war
Poets who belong to a community of writers that offers prompts and ideas reap the benefit of producing material that might never have emerged without the prompt. They also have the opportunity to see how other people handled the same stimulus. This is always an interesting exercise, and particularly when the prompt is broad and allows plenty of scope for exploration.
Anne Steward of Magdale, West Yorkshire, responded to a prompt shared through Holmfirth Writers Group to write on the theme of remembrance. In her mind the general theme became specific as memories crowded in. She explains how her poem began: ‘It started with a memory so strong I got caught for a while. The leather strop behind the kitchen door. I spent a while picturing my grandparents’ home in Openshaw, Manchester. It was just like the Coronation Street houses with a bay window. The pride of those people who set their standards high was shown in polished shoes and neat hair. I was stuck on the image then took myself for a virtual tour of the house, then came back to the fact that the poem that wanted to be written was about my Grandad. And the poem revealed itself.’