posted on 14 Jun 2024

On Poetry Street by Brian Moses, Illustrated by Mark Elvins

Back in November 2023 we were lucky enough to be able to review two of Brian Moses’ stories for younger readers - Snake in the Loft and The Incredible Shrinking Ghost – and, even for fortunately to be able to follow that up with a more detailed interview with the author (and you’ll find that here).

His latest book to find its way to the Letterpress HQ is On Poetry Street which:

“contains 52 poems, one for any week of the year, which can all serve as springboards to writing your own poetry.”

And it’s that idea of providing a little inspiration or nudge to the young reader to release their own inner-poet that is central to this collection. It’s a book about how poetry can be a liberation if your head is full of ideas or stacked with the musical joy of words. And it gives permission to have those creative moments anywhere you like:

“Do you find yourself bursting with creative ideas when you’re in the supermarket, standing in a bus queue or trying to get to sleep at night?”

What I really like about the approach Moses takes to poetry is that it’s the direct opposite of what many people think of when they talk about poetry – it’s accessible and democratic rather than elitist and unapproachable. Poetry, contrary to what people often fear, doesn’t have to be about really complex ideas and emotions, it can be about everyday experiences, the things we all find ourselves doing and thinking. But crucially it can carry your own twist on those experiences.

Who, for example, hasn’t been bored? Who hasn’t felt time stand still on the day before a big event like a birthday? The poem So Bored starts with a verse that captures that feeling of a clock standing still:

“So bored.

I counted all the bricks

in the garden wall.

I talked to my dad

about his varieties of roses.

I watched our tortoise

Make slow and steady progress

back to our vegetable patch.”

 

Or what about those days when nothing seems to be going for you and everything seems just Grim:

“The railway’s on strike,

someone’s stolen my bike,

 

My coffee’s gone cold,

the dog’s getting old.

 

It’s grim,

just grim.”

And to add even more inspirational zest to the poems, black and white drawings by Mark Elvins adorn every page. Check out the truly repulsive ogre, the girl in the barrel and the fat frog with a crown – wonderful stuff.

Available now from the Scallywag Press, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

June 2024