Poetry Works

At the start of 2024 I had an epiphany.

For the whole of 2023 I had gradually taken my love of poetry into the world. I had run a series of poetry workshops in partnership with the RSPB. I had worked in schools teaching an approach to poetry I have developed (see Build a Poem). There were online workshops too and writing groups.

Some of this work was paid for and some was done just for the fun of it.

As this kind of activity was beginning to develop, I had started to wonder if I should become a bit more intentional about it. My motivation was simply that I really enjoyed doing it and wanted to find more opportunities.

I came up with the working title “Poetry Works”. I like the way it pointed in two different directions. I do believe poetry can be a tool for life, helping us to investigate the workings of our hearts and minds. It can be a counsellor, a guide and a friend. So, in this sense, Poetry Works seemed like an apt descriptor.

Then I was approached to provide a workshop for the Roche annual conference. The firm had an inspiring goal: to bring life to years or years to life for 200,000 people in the next twelve months. What they wanted was for their employees to buy into a concept called “collective efficacy”.

Could I, they asked, help their employees to investigate this concept, help them to internalise it?

The answer was of course, yes.

Isn’t one of poetry’s biggest tricks its ability to turn the abstract into something concrete and memorable?

Working with Roche opened my eyes to a new direction for my poetry practice.

Roche commissioned me to write a poem as a mood setter for the conference. The poem I wrote was on the subject of togetherness, which was my word for “collective efficacy”. This is poetry as art but also as a tool.

I started to think more deeply about the tools of poetry. Let’s describe some of the effects a good poem delivers:

• Imagery: turning the abstract into something concrete.

• Concision: the right words in the right order.

• Memorability: encapsulating an idea, feeling or concept.

• Rhythm: sounding right, reinforcing memorability.

Now let’s ask what any organisation might aspire to in the language it uses for its target audiences. Surely, organisations want a language their target audiences:

• Notice

• Use

• Enjoy

• Remember.

Poetry by virtue of its form is memorable, emotive, playful and distinctive.

I began to wonder why the tools and techniques of poetry are not more in demand by organisations. Then I remembered Billy Collins and his “anti-poetry deflector shield”, which he proposed we were all installed with at school (see Build a Poem).

So I set up Poetry Works with the idea of matching the tools and techniques of poetry to organisational needs. There are various use cases I can imagine:

• Vision work: using imagery and concision .

• Employee engagement: empowering employees to internalise organisational prioirties.

• Brand management: building memorable language.

• Communications: not the what, the when or the why, but the how.

• Training: teaching the tools and techniques of poetry.

Time will tell whether a market place for these tools and techniques can be developed. I’ll keep you posted.