Visit to Chester by Poet Tom Jenks

On 22 February, Creative Writing students on the module Poetry: Other Voices, Other Forms spent a seminar and workshop with poet Tom Jenks.  Tom has published ten collections of poetry and his work appears in Salt’s Best British Poetry 2015 (ed. Emily berry). See http://www.zshboo.org/ for more details.

Through a series of prompts and exercises, Tom showed us how to generate poems using the internet and computer programs, tempered by human input and intervention. There was a discussion about how to make use of this for writing poetry, for example, exploring new territory, going out of one’s comfort zone, overcoming writer’s block, and just having fun with the composition of poetry. Tom also read from his own brilliantly funny work.

One student commented that it was the best workshop he had ever been to. Tom has produced a collaborative poem using some of the lines from the workshop. See http://www.zshboo.org/and-then-but.html

The visit was organised by Dr Ian Seed.