While Haringey’s schools are closed, we’ve come up with a challenge for
our talented students: write a poem, and we’ll publish it on our website.
As you may know, Haringey Welcome has previously run poetry
competitions for Year 6 students in the borough. This year, given the
exceptional circumstances, we’re inviting poems from students aged 5 – 18. No prizes, but the chance to have your poem read by hundreds,
maybe thousands. You can write about anything you like: but here are two options to get you started.
Option 1: write a poem welcoming someone to Haringey. You can read
(and hear) the poem The Mercy, by Philip Levine, and think how you
would welcome the girl in the poem.
https://www.pw.org/content/philip_levine_reads_the_mercy
(If you took part in the poetry competition in 2018 or 2019, you’ve done
this already, so try option 2!).
Option 2: write about being at home with whoever you live with: mum or
dad, brothers or sisters, grandparents, foster-parents etc. The starter
poem for this is by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney.
https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/poems/heaney/from_clearances_5.php
When you’re happy with your poem, email it to us at
refugeeswelcomeharingey@gmail.com. Write POETRY 2020 in the
subject line. Don’t forget to include your name, your age and which
school you go to. We’ll let you know once your poem is up on our
website.
Good luck!