I’ve always been fascinated by other forms of creativity – ones that I have neither the talent for nor the patience to learn – whether that be painting, sculpture, music, or working in wood, metal, or glass. I find it mesmerising: the artist starts work, and I drift off into some kind of trance as I watch them weave, hew, or weld their magic. Something similar happens if you sit me in front of a log fire, but that’s another story.
Over the past year or so, I’ve grown more and more interested in setting my poems alongside video, and since I don’t possess the skill to do that myself (see opening paragraph for explanation) I’ve needed to find someone else to do the hard alchemic graft. Which is where Patrick Dunn comes in. Last year, when I shared my poem Fatima on social media, he got in touch to ask if he could create a video to accompany it. I said yes – what had I got to lose, after all? – and the result (which you can see here) exceeded anything I’d have dared to dream of.
Just before Xmas, I emailed Patrick to ask if he’d be interested in putting together a video for my poem (don’t) read all about it… Luckily for me, he said yes. Once again, what he’s done is – to my mind – incredible, and I’m immensely grateful to him for his time and his talent. I think it deserves the widest audience possible, which is why I’m sharing the link to this new video here. Give it a couple of minutes of your time. And if you know someone else you think might want to view it, please pass the link along to them too. Thank you.
[One more thing before I go… if you enjoy books of political, socially engaged poetry, (don’t) read all about it… is in the Bread & Roses anthology The Shouting Tories produced by Culture Matters, and is on sale here.]