Shedman remembers Simon Armitage coming to see him years ago in his shed at Ledbury Poetry Festival. The same year that Daljit Nagra called by and was super-impressed how Shedman engaged people with poetry, encouraging them to write their own poem.
Shedman was delighted when the Poet Laureate decided to go to his shed and create his BBC Radio 4 programme. Over thirty-two episodes, guests who came to Simon’s shed for a chat included the future king, Sir Ian McKellan, J K Rowling, Antony Gormly, and Kae Tempest.
But where our Poet Laureate usually interviewed celebrities, Shedman’s shtick was/is always to chat to ordinary folk about poetry, as well as encouraging them to talk about their own lives, valuing their own special experience and talents in the quiet of Shedman’s shed. They create their own poem with Shedman’s help by replying to simple question prompts with a line of poetry as the answer. Shedman has a way of engaging people, a common touch that’s hard to emulate, the source of his success and memorability. His touchstone question, the root of any conversation was ‘What’s the first shed you ever remember?’ (©Shedman 2001)
As Shedstack develops I’ll include some of the poems and writing people created when they visited Shedman’s shed.
For now here’s the last in Edward Ward’s fabulous series of poetry sheds!
‘…mercifully, it is drawn aside through the eye of a black hole…’ (Simon Armitage, Zoom! From Zoom! Bloodaxe Books)
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