Ask any writer why they write and the answer is never for money, fame or recognition. It’s for the sheer joy of writing, of expressing themselves, and hopefully having other people relate to what has been written. That certainly applies to me – I do it because I must, because I am driven to do so.
I have always written poetry, but until I reached my early 50’s, I only produced 2-3 poems a year. Then, at the age of 53, I was taken to the Poetry Café for the first time and discovered their Poetry Unplugged open mic sessions, still running and hosted by the excellent Niall O’Sullivan. I was immediately hooked and began to read my work there regularly. But I soon realised if I was reading regularly, I needed to write a lot more poetry. I soon had a robust and growing collection of work, which people seemed to like, and before long Nii Parkes’ (Flipped Eye/Waterways Press) published my first collection and six more collections of my poetry.
While poetry has never made me rich, it has taken me all over the world. I have featured at Poetry/Literature Festivals from the USA to Bangladesh, from Oslo to Nicaragua, as well as Israel and Palestine I was also invited to read three times at the Babylon International Arts & Cultural Festival in Iraq, in 2012, 2014, and 2016, and it was these three visits that inspired my Back to Babylon collection (Palewell Press 2019). I have also produced a dual language collection with 15 poems in English plus their Taiwanese/Chinese translation, which I read from at the Formosa International Poetry Festival in Taiwan in 2017. I am hoping that a new collection will be coming out within the next year.
I was attracted to writing poetry because the form enables you to express in a few words what you hold in your heart. It is passion and emotion, giving you a tool to change the world, to challenge whatever you find unacceptable, to question, communicate, change misconceptions, alter world views…ultimately to express the inexpressible.
It is a mechanism for social change. Without the freedom to express yourself there can be no genuine harmony. Simplistically, self-expression is a way of articulating love of self, with self-love being a reflection of how you love the world…the place you live in.
Although there are many poets whose work I admire, especially within an international arena, my absolute favourite poem is ‘Hallaig’ by the Scottish Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean (Gaelic version Somhairle MacGill-Eain), which explores evocatively and passionately the Highland Clearances which decimated the population of the Scottish Highlands & Islands from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries. I love his translation of his poem from Scottish Gaelic to English rather than Seamus Heaney’s version, which for me doesn’t have the same depth of emotion or raw passion.
Over the years I have often given poetry writing workshops, either free-standing, or part of the programmes of the Festivals I have been invited to read at. It has always given me great pleasure to encourage budding writers to improve and polish their work. Every poet, whether they are experienced or new to the form, has a unique voice, although many are still in the process of discovering it. I believe it’s my job as a published international poet, to encourage participants in my workshops to find that unique voice, their platform of self-expression.
Whether the language they use is raw or more polished, what they write is a tool of empowerment for them, challenging, questioning, observing and commenting on what they see in their world, both positive and negative, in a distinctive and dynamic way. We all have a poet inside of us – it’s just a question of unlocking that inner poet. And if I can help people to do that – to help them express the inexpressible – then I am happy that my job is done.
Why not take a look at these poetry collections by Agnes Meadows? Back to Babylon: Poems Inspired by Iraq, Woman, At Damascus Gate on Good Friday and This One is For You
