Meeting a 9 year old poet
February 17, 2011
I met a wonderful nine year old poet. Her name was Sophie and she had come to the RSC building specifically to see 'the poet'. She wanted to know about the residency and talk about my writing process and tell me about hers. We had an extraordinary chat. Sophie let me know that she really wanted to write a poem with me, she wanted to try another way of writing. So I set her the task of mapping her journey through the new building. She had to draw a map and make notes of any specific details that she remembered (Sophie will tell you more about this writing process in the videos). I interviewed her uncle whilst she was writing and asked him for permission to film her and use the footage on the blog.
Sophie decided to write an ode to the Swan Reading Room as this was her favourite place in the entire building. I asked her to read her poem to the camera.
We then had a very interesting talk about her writing process. Sophie told me that she writes all the time –a lot of short stories and poems. I was very impressed by both her editing process and the fact that she tried out her poems by reading them to a live audience (namely her parents and friends) to see their responses and get their feedback. Sophie made me remember my young days when I would spend all day in my tiny bedroom, lying on my stomach on the single bed writing stories and poems. Then in the evening before the A- team came on TV, I would stage poetry readings for my aunt and cousins in our living room. I would ask them to sit on the black leather sofa and pace the red carpet reading my creations from yellow or green slip exercise books. They would listen to all my teenage scribbles and clap as if everything that I said was gold. I wonder if this is how we all begin - trying out our material on our families?
I was so proud to have met such a dedicated and enthusiastic writer and I was buzzing from our conversation. It is unusual to meet a young writer so dedicated to creating poems and who would volunteer to spend a part of her weekend meeting a poet, writing a poem and talking about the writing process. It was a pleasure meeting her.
The videos show Sophie reading her poem, explaining how she wrote the poem using the methods that I shared with her and finally recapping what she had told me about her writing.
by Malika Booker
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