The Essay: Poetic Provocations

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Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

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The Essay: Poetic Provocations: Sunflowers

Sunflowers

Poetic Provocations

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Poetic Provocations, Sunflowers

A very personal exploration of poetic starting points from writer Inua Ellams.

A very personal exploration of poetic inspiration from writer Inua Ellams. Sometimes provocative, always intriguing, subjects include Tupac Shakur, Rudyard Kipling and basketball.

What sparks a poem? How long does it take for an idea to become a poem? In a dynamic series of very personal essays, Writer Inua Ellams shares his own experience of creating poetry, taking the listener on five vivid and varied journeys. Each essay culminates in a poem taken from his most recent collection, The Actual. 

Inua sets out the starting point and context for a poem, unpicking his relationship to its central motifs and themes, drawing on a wide range of social and cultural references. The series offers an in-depth and personal exploration of the process of creating individual poems from an award-winning young poet. Poetic Provocations invites the listener into a poet’s mind and process with refreshing honesty, warm wit, political analysis and insight. 

Essay 4: Sunflowers / Steven Divine
Inua’s best friend died by suicide when he was 17 years old in Dublin. It has plagued him all his life. His play Black T-Shirt was an attempt to understand what could drive a person to take their own life. It was also about black and African masculinity, but at its heart was Steven. A friend once complimented a student, a young black man she was teaching poetry. Instead of accepting the compliment, he turned violent, threw furniture around the room, insulted her, and left. He later apologised, saying he had never been complimented in his life, was about to cry in the class, but couldn’t, so to save face, he flipped from one extreme emotion to the other. Inua talks about all this, the freedoms poetry has allowed in the ability to express emotion, how this freedom isn’t available to a lot of men, and the society-wide repercussions.

A  list of organisations that can help with feelings of despair is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.


Essayist, Inua Ellams
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

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A personal exploration of poetic inspiration from writer Inua Ellams.

Inua Ellams shares his personal experience of creating poetry, taking the listener on five vivid and varied journeys, each culminating in a poem from his collection The Actual.

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