Poetry & community

Student reviews

“I recently got the opportunity to hear poet Patience Agbabi recite her poetry and answer questions. She gave live performances of some of her poetry, which was organised by my school, Presdales. Eat Me, which is actually studied by some English Literature students at our school as part of the A-Level syllabus, was one of the most memorable works she read. I found the poetry to be thought-provoking and profound, even though I don't study it myself.

The way she performed Eat Me caught my attention the most. Her attitude, tone, and tempo gave the poem a genuine emotional impact. Despite not studying her poetry before, I was nevertheless able to understand the intricate topics she examined, such as identity, power, and control. Hearing it straight from her made me see how spoken language can reveal levels of meaning that could be overlooked on paper. Her use of phrase was both vivid and unnerving.

Because of this experience, I now view poetry as something that should be heard and felt rather than only read. I'll approach poetry more openly going forward, and I'm now more interested in reading poems that I haven't studied or heard of before.”

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“MY ‘WORD’ - A POETRY CONFERENCE WITH PATIENCE AGBABI

Give me a word…

I'll give you a word. My word.

At around 2pm, we all sat down on tables that faced a large stage. Patience began by introducing herself, Oxford-graduate, and a lover of writing/reading. This to me was fascinating as many of her passions, such as writing, resonated heavily in my own character. This showcased to me how her passion for writing led her down such a successful path; becoming a world-renowned poet.

Following this introduction, she then started the conference off by performing arguably her most famous poem: ‘Word’. From the moment of “Give me a word, any word”, I was hooked. A certain charm could be found in her writing, a punch that may be argued is hard to ascertain. The poem itself was catchy, fun, and an overall great writing experiment, which I believed utilized a deep intellectual range of vocabulary and meaning. I also strongly argue that ‘Word' is an exploration of language itself.

Therefore, ‘Word’ is also a celebration of language.

Finally, once her performances had finished triumphantly. I stayed behind to ask one to one for Agbabi’s best advice. She told me, “work everyday, and to work hard when doing so”, which I found particularly insightful. These values are not just words, I believe it is the fundamental core for success. In conclusion, what I have learned from her is that if you have a passion for something, art, science, sports, writing, films; go out and work to embody it.

5/5 - I look forward to her future work, and I am incredibly grateful for this experience.”

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“Patience Agbabi delivered an inspiring and motivating talk that makes her layered and complex writing seem like a universal gift that we all have the potential to enhance if we desire and endeavor to achieve it. Agbabi read a range of poems with varying topics from diversity and childhood experiences to relationships and personal empowerment. Agbabi suggested that poetry doesn’t need to be based upon relevant topics that are universally talked about, as long as it intrigues you which she demonstrated through her unusually fascinating poem ‘Eat Me’. She revealed that this poem stemmed from a documentary that stuck with her for numerous days, yet when we start to look deeper than the surface of the poem, we can unpick several pertinent themes; including power, abuse and control. Agbabi also provided a range of useful tips for creative writing such as not building a barrier by striving for perfection on the first try but just congregating a flow of thoughts to create a useful jumping off point, then each day with new ideas you can perfect the final product. Agbabi also gave me a new outlook on poetry as she highlighted that it can mean so many different things to different people but that doesn’t make interpretations wrong, it just makes it a more complex and interesting piece of literature. I personally feel this has motivated me to start writing outside of English lessons as it has brought me to the realisation that you don’t need to know exactly what you will produce when you initially sit down, but by the end ideas will fall into place to create a piece of writing that is up to your standard.”

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“Agababi spoke about her poems, the meaning behind them, and how to apply that to our own analysis and poetry. she also spoke bout her personal experiences and the poets that inspire her own works. This was told to us expressively, projecting her voice and ideas clearly throughout the room, and by explaining the different techniques in her poetry, she shared how she expresses herself through the medium. To me, the most impactful part of her visit was the way she spoke about poetry, with passion and enthusiasm about what she was talking about, making us listen to everything she said. this meant that we were listening and attentive, even as she spoke about things we weren't normally interested in, for example structure and repetition in one of her poems. in conclusion, i felt as though her visit gave me a new appreciation for poetry and will make me think harder about structural techniques in my own A-Level analysis, even though as a lit/lang student, we don't do poetry in our course.”

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“Presdales Sixth Form students were fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a poetry reading by poet Patience Agbabi, organised by the Ware Poets’ Society. Agbabi performed her poem ‘Eat Me’, featuring on the Edexcel A Level English Literature syllabus. Hearing the poem performed live offered a fresh perspective for all of us and her discussion afterwards made the experience even richer, as she shared her inspirations behind her work.

My personal favourite performance was of the poem 'Word’, which explored the power of language. Agbabi’s delivery of this poem was extraordinary, it sounded beautiful like the words were rolling off her tongue. She also shared ‘Josephine Baker Finds Herself’ which had an interesting mirror structure which reflected the duality meaning of the poem. This enabled us to look even closer at structure in poems we study, as she highlighted through her poetry , how meaningful it can be. Throughout the session, Agbabi’s warmth and stage presence captivated everyone. The visit was a brilliant reminder that poetry isn’t just meant to be studied, it’s meant to be heard and experienced.

Overall, Patience Agbabi’s visit was an inspiring experience. Patience offered a unique insight into the creative process of a contemporary poet and demonstrated the impact of performance in bringing poetry to life. Moving forward, I hope to apply these insights both in my analysis of literature and in my own creative writing.”

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“I was fortunate enough to visit the maltings in Ware to see Patience Agbabi read some of her poetry and give a deeper insight into how she comes up with ideas and her creative writing process, we were also able to ask questions to which she gave insightful answers to and demonstrated what it was like being a poet and how to get involved. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing her talk about the poem ‘Eat me’ as it is one I am studying for my A-Level it gave a new perspective on the poem that I had not yet thought of and inspired me to think outside the box when analyzing poetry. It was also fascinating to listen to her discuss what inspired her poems for example how ‘Eat me’ was inspired by a TV program. Agbabi also gave us exercises to do such as thinking about pieces of literature that inspired us and how they have impacted us which was interesting.”

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“Sixth form english students were given the opportunity to hear Patience Agbabi read some of her works including poems and extracts of her books recently. It was inspiring to hear about her background, how she became the writer she is today and what inspires her to write. She spoke about her heroes that she had growing up, specifically athletic heroes of hers that she has written about in recent years. She spoke extensively about her black heritage and how it has been to grow up in and live in a multi-cultural Britain. Many of her pieces focus on her black heritage and the pride she feels in her skin. Furthermore, she gave advice to us students as well, how to overcome writers block and how to get writing, She told us the best thing that we can do to further our writing abilities is just to write, the more you do it the more it will improve and you will be able to get into the habit of it.”

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“Patience Agbabi is an inspirational poet and writer celebrated for paying equal homage to performance and literature which I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing her linguistically rhythmed and satisfying works. She mainly focused on sharing her famously known poems such as “Eat me” and works from her book “telling tales” which told fascinating stories about her life or topics she found interesting and close to her heart. Particularly what impacted me about her was the dramatised way in which she performed her poetry which instantly held me as an audience member captivated. Her speed in her speech and use of facial expressions and gestures felt animated like she was bringing the words written down to life in a story I could imagine in my head. Her poem “Eat me” interested me with its graphic language and sinister ending left to interpretation which she was inspired by from a 2000s fetish show of men idolising and keeping obese women fat which I believe is a unique way to look at manipulation. I believe that listening to her poetry will help to improve my linguistic techniques, making me grow into a creative intellectual writer just like Patience.”

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“During Patience Agbabi’s visit, she delivered some of her poems and projects in a very engaging way. Agbabi is a poet best known for her forth collection, Telling Tales and many other books and poems. It was inspiring to hear about her life before and during her time as a writer. She gave us suggestions on how to overcome writer's block, how to get into writing and spoke about her writing style. When she read her poems, specifically ‘Eat Me’ as its one of the poems we study in sixth form, she brought them to life with rhythm and energy turning it into a performance rather than a lecture. It helped me to understand the poem indepth as she shared what she was feeling as she was writing. Her visit encouraged me to think more deeply about my own writing and learnt that writing doesn't have to follow a specific rule: it can be so much more.”

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“As a school, we visited a poetry conference delivered by Patience Agbabi that showcased her captivating poetry, from some of her oldest and most well-known pieces to some of her newer, more recent poems. One of these included a poem we had begun to study in class and this gave us an insight into how Patience Agbabi intended for her literature to be read and perceived. Throughout the reading it was clear to see the poet's passion for her work and the depth of meaning that had been embedded within it. Following her performance, we had the chance to have our queries answered, where we received advice for how we could push ourselves as literature students and how we could develop our writing skills in practise. Agbabi advised us to read books, listen to music, watch films and theatre and immerse ourselves in all forms of art to encourage our ideas if we decide to write our own pieces of work, as well as consistently putting our thoughts down on paper to eventually create something we are proud of.”

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“The poetry session was a great learning experience as it allowed me to immerse myself in the poetry and I could absorb the effects of how patience Agabi pronounced and spoke the words , allowing me to better understand her poems , particularly Eat Me , which we are studying . She has motivated me to do smaller task everyday to improve my writing , as she said when she has writing block she write very day in the morning a little bit . This has enabled me to motivated as I have seen a poet in real life and moved me to know that even she has unknown analysis to her poems , and that poetry is so wide to explore , anyone can discover it's meaning . Moving forward , I hope to become more aware of how poetry effects and improves are everyday life and how its more than words on a piece of paper , it's about how you bring it to life .”

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“On the 10th of October, I had the opportunity to go to Patience Agbabi’s poetry conference. She performed some of her most popular poems but also poems with amazing literary techniques. One of the poems she performed was ‘Eat Me’, a poem I am currently studying for A-level English. Agbabi performed this poem with fluency and character and I had the opportunity to learn more about her intentions of the poem, allowing me to have a greater understanding, expanding my knowledge, and improving my perception of the poem. I particularly loved the poem ‘Josephine Baker finds herself’ poem as the literary technique of mirroring the poem was so clever and amazing. Her dynamic and distinctive voice can be found woven into all her poems, particularly ‘Telling Tales’, her unique poetry styles are impossible to miss. This conference was an eye-opener to the world of poetry and helped me understand more about meanings and techniques behind poems.”

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“On Friday the 10th of October, I went with the school to see Patience Agbabi and she read some of her most famous and favourite poems and pieces of writing. She read some of the poems we are currently studying, one of which was ‘Eat Me’. This is one of my favourite poems simply because of how ominous it is and how it still nicely flows. She explained how old fatphobic shows she used to see on television inspired her, and how she wanted to use the themes of control and abuse to both represent the abuse that happened emotionally and physically in the relationship. She read the poem with so much passion, making you see it in a completely different light. It made you see the different ways you can interpret the poem. Was it murder? Was it just metaphorical? I like how most of her poems have a much deeper meaning. She undercovers social problems like racism, homophobia, and class differences all while still telling a story. I honestly think this opportunity was a great learning experience and I would love to have another opportunity to listen to another poet, and learn about their poetry.”