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23 May 2023

Posted by Tabby Hayward

Quiet

This week, we were looking at the ‘Peace and Quiet’ Poetry Challenge on Young Poets Network, in association with the Portland Japanese Garden. To begin, we read Victoria Adukwei Bulley’s poem ‘Not quiet as in…’ and came up with our own ideas and associations around the concept of ‘quiet’, building it into our own ‘Not quiet as in…’ poems.


Next, we watched composer John Cage’s infamous 4’33’’ – and had some strong opinions about it! We used this as a starting point to write for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, either about the piece of music, the things we noticed during it around us, or what it might have been like to be in the orchestra or audience!


Gene


As in peaceful

As in a peace of mind

As in clever

As in “it is a test”

As in shhhhhhhhh

As in a different viewpoint

As in different thoughts

As in different personality

As in loneliness

As in emptiness

As in nothing leftness

As in bystander

As in a deadly person

But as if a quiet person could be deadly

Or could they?

 

Neelesh

No way I paid £20 to just watch a silenced performance! After a minute, rows of people started to laugh which I didn't understand. A minute felt like an hour, and an hour felt like a year.



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