Are you a poet but you just don’t know it? Today (Thursday 1 October) is National Poetry Day!
Here is a clip of Emma Boone, one of our staff, reading one of the poems that was suggested by a customer. It’s one of the shorter ones we got sent to read.
The poem is called The Old Man’s Funeral by William Cullen Bryant.
The short version is the two stanzas we had sent in. The long version is the whole poem. https://youtu.be/Y6OhvgsngCM
Why not film yourself reading your favourite or one you wrote yourself during lockdown, with hashtag #HaltonReads?
We put a call out for you to channel your inner Worsdsworth, Tennyson, John Cooper Clarke Pam Ayes, Simon Armitage or Benjamin Zephaniah. Or simply tell us your fave verses!
During today we’ll be featuring poems written by Halton residents during lockdown on our Facebook and Twitter pages and on our digital screens in libraries.
The poems are being read by the authors or by library staff and there’ll be some creative presentation of them. to look out for
National Poetry Day is an annual celebration that inspires people throughout the UK to enjoy, discover and share poems. Everyone is invited to join in, whether by organising events, displays, competitions or by simply posting favourite lines of poetry on social media using #nationalpoetryday.
It was founded in 1994 by the charity Forward Arts Foundation, whose mission is to celebrate excellence in poetry and increase its audience. The Day enjoys the support of the BBC, Arts Council England, the Royal Mail and leading literary and cultural organisations, alongside booksellers, publishers, libraries and schools.
#Haltonreads