residencies - havering
In the summer of 2000, Mario Petrucci was Poet in Residence in Havering as part of the innovative Year of the Artist scheme.
Mario's residency in Havering resulted in a book of poems (The Stamina of Sheep) and a poetry walk through the fascinating geology and folklore of this area.
The Thames Walk, inspired by the Thames sequence in the book, defines a communal and public role for poetry as a site-specific event.
The book and Study Pack, supported by London Arts, have been distributed to every library and secondary school in the Borough.
'This work should be the study of all Writers in Residence to see the level of excellence that can be achieved.'
Writing in Education, December 2002 Click on the green Study Pack to see some of Mario's exercises
'Brimming with good ideas . . . it is not difficult to adapt the ideas, suggestions and activities presented to a more general use'
Some poems from The Stamina of Sheep . . .
(Rainham)
I found it up the Creek. No?
a fin-tip. The viaduct exposes
Look again - its belly blubbers
As for the clock-tower - you can
to watch. Go on. Just take the time
(Durolitum, now Romford - the A12)
kicked up with each crunch of Celtic bone
This stretch, this rammed surface of iron slag,
which flowered in my rainless mind where
a cartwheel sliced in half by the Tyrrhenian sea.
decisive strokes, this straightness in your arteries
trammels still to my vision - what you see
and back, to my first unswerving gaze.
copyright mario petrucci
2001
Mario also conducted poetry workshops and readings in Havering and wrote a schools Study Pack to accompany the poems.
The outcome is a unique and far-reaching residency.
Click on The Stamina of Sheep to read more about the poetry collection
or to purchase either of the books.
from "The Havering Poetry Study Pack".
Praise for the Study Pack:
- Martyn Crucefix, poet and teacher
Whale
There's a whale in Broadway.
I saw it. It swallowed the rail-line.
The station knotted its throat.
Look. That stove-in drain might be
a blow-hole. That gray slant of slate
its ribs, New Road gives it the hump.
I've heard it sing in a creaking board.
into marsh; the sewage-works
strain bilge for particles of us.
have a whale of it there. Choose
for yourself which unblinking eye
and the whale will show you how
bit by bit, time can take forever.
Roman
The curve, Briton? Admission of weakness.
Beneath your feet was flint crushed to dust
that was many sandals strapped into perfect step.
brought Rome to you - the mother-city
as if a hawk, I saw Her roads spoke outwards -
I laid it down, Briton - your map slashed by
and though I am dust your slave steel
and how you move through it settles back
Mario reading his poem 'Roman' during the unveiling of Gerstein's new sculpture entitled 'Romans' (Gallows Corner, Havering).
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