Creative Connections: Stay Up Your Own End, by Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists

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PROJECT: Stay Up Your Own End
GROUP: Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists

Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists are a Black Country based poetry collective who run slams, events, workshops, and projects within the Black Country (and sometimes beyond).

Stay up your own end’ was an online platform for creating and sharing new pieces of creative writing about different areas of the Black Country, with the chance to be a paid feature act in an online showcase event. All events were hosted in the Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists Facebook group.

Poetry prompts for each event were shared two weeks in advance of each event. At each event a ‘judge’s favourite’ was chosen and secured a £25 prize for the author, plus the opportunity to work with them on creating a video of their piece for our sixth and final event.

Prompt writers and judges were: Richard Archer, Rick Sanders, Roy McFarlane, Kuli Kohli, and Heather Wastie. 

Here are the winning poems:

PARTICIPANTS COMMENTS:

“Really excellent way of engaging people and encouraging creativity during the pandemic. Not just reading the work, but reading, commenting & receiving feedback in real time. Writing a poem was enjoyable in itself, but it is a solitary activity. Reading a poem can also be solitary and sometimes a passive experience. The event took the creative work into an interactive (but safe) space for novices such as myself.”

“It was a really good poetry event. A lot of entries and a fantastic range of poems. If it had been live it would have been better but given current restrictions it was enjoyable. The hosts ran it well and I like the fact that the poems are available for a while after the event to re-read.”

“As someone who worked in Walsall and took part in various folk and open mic poetry events while there, it was great to be part of this live on-line event to keep in touch with some great people and have a chance to participate in poetry while in Lockdown. It was great.”

“This was a lovely event. The organisers made sure everyone had time to enjoy the poetry and it was curated in such a way that it didn't feel either hurried or too slow.”

“I loved how inclusive it was - every poem was read out and people were really nice and encouraging.”

“I really enjoyed the poems and reading the audience's comments. There was a real mixture of styles of poetry but all focused on one main theme, so it had coherence.”

”A really pleasant surprise. I didn't think many people would submit poems about Walsall, but I was so wrong - 27 varied pieces, some of them excellent.”

“This was a well run event which managed to be exciting, even though it was held over Facebook. It was great to read the poems and see people's comments as they were read, which doesn't happen in live events.”

“It was good to be able to read poems about Dudley and contribute to discussions about the writing. I would love to have seen writing by some younger poets, particularly from Dudley. I would have loved to have heard what they see as the future of the town and their aspirations for it. It is a real challenge during Lockdown to further new connections and draw in young voices. However, I think that the organisers (Poets, Prattlers & Pandemonialists) are doing a great job of keeping the programme going. They are enthusiastic and engaging characters, who work hard to keep the show on the road!”

“Great idea to get people engaged with poetry by exploring specific places (usually their home town, which is a nice connection to write about). Showcased lots of talent. People joined in by offering feedback and sharing experiences. The hosts are brilliant at encouraging people - poets and audience - to join in.”

“This worked really well as a live online event. There was enough time to read and comment on the poetry. A positive and encouraging vibe from participants.”

“I've been to all tree of these sofar, and they've all been great. This was different - a small number of poems, but still enough for a really good night. But a more even distribution between genders, and an exciting number of new names we hadn't seen before. A really exciting stimulus for local writers.”

“Fantastic evening. Great poetry. Full of diversity and thoughfulness.”

“Absolutely top quality evening. 30 poems submitted and goodness knows how many following. Absolutely top quality. New contributors. Great feedback to the writers and just a wonderful poetry packed party. Younger poets from Wolverhampton involved too. Great to see. Best event so far. Thanks to the organisers!!”

“Wonderful community event sharing poetry and raising spirits at this difficult period.”

“Fantastic finale to this excellent series. Well done to the Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists for putting it on and getting us to think about where we live in the Black Country from so many varied perspectives.”

Creative Connections, WolverhamptonKerry O'CoyPoets Prattlers and Pandemonialists, Poetry, Creative Connections