By Esinam Asima <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The English Department kindly offered a\u00a05-week\u00a0poetry workshop led by poet Lisa Kelly.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lisa is a London-based poet and editor known for her debut collection A Map Towards Fluency<\/em> (2019). She is also Chair of Magma Poetry magazine<\/a> and co-editor of What Meets the Eye? The Deaf Perspective.\u202f<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisa has led\u00a0a previous\u00a0workshop with the girls ranging from years 10 to12, where we have been able to explore the different methods to constructing poetry.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We started off with analysing poems such as Blackberries<\/em> by Yusef Komunyakaa with a connecting theme: Fruit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisa asked us to think about \u2018how a type of fruit might work as a metaphor for you and your feelings\u2019. I must admit, this was an unusual task to take on since we had to place an emotion of feeling with the fruit and even place ourselves in the perspective of a fruit, descriptively recounting experiences some fruit may have.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n The English Department hoped\u00a0the workshop would give students more than just technical skills in poetry. It was designed to help build confidence in sharing opinions, spark creativity though unusual poems, and deepen\u00a0our\u00a0understanding of metaphor\u00a0to\u00a0express complex emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysing published works and experimenting with our own writing, we were encouraged to see how everyday objects like fruit can be transformed into powerful symbol of identity,\u00a0resilience\u00a0and imagination.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Below are some poems created by students during the poetry workshop which feature in the collection of \u2018Poems by the Priory\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Click on this link to see the full anthology of poems: https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1tf-wsdb9ol48Sbw8BrTsOfRV-7BQYnyR\/view?usp=sharing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Esinam Asima The English Department kindly offered a\u00a05-week\u00a0poetry workshop led by poet Lisa Kelly.\u202f\u00a0 Lisa is a London-based poet and editor known for her debut collection A Map Towards Fluency (2019). She is also Chair of Magma Poetry magazine and co-editor of What Meets the Eye? The Deaf Perspective.\u202f Lisa has led\u00a0a previous\u00a0workshop with the girls ranging from years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-artsculture","8":"category-news","10":"post-with-thumbnail","11":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",1920,1440,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",1920,1440,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",1920,1440,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",150,113,false],"medium":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",300,225,false],"large":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",720,540,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",1536,1152,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",1920,1440,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",507,380,false],"vantage-thumbnail-no-sidebar":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",507,380,false],"vantage-slide":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",640,480,false],"vantage-carousel":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",243,182,false],"vantage-grid-loop":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",363,272,false],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",24,18,false],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",36,27,false],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/thumbnail_image.png",48,36,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Mr Charlton","author_link":false},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Arts & Culture<\/a> News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Esinam Asima The English Department kindly offered a\u00a05-week\u00a0poetry workshop led by poet Lisa Kelly.\u202f\u00a0 Lisa is a London-based poet and editor known for her debut collection A Map Towards Fluency (2019). She is also Chair of Magma Poetry magazine and co-editor of What Meets the Eye? The Deaf Perspective.\u202f Lisa has led\u00a0a previous\u00a0workshop with the girls ranging from years…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4559"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4563,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559\/revisions\/4563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Blackberries
\u202f\u201cThey left my hands like a printer\u2019s
Or thief\u2019s before a police blotter
& pulled me into early morning\u2019s
Terrestrial sweetness, so thick
The damp ground was consecrated
Where they fell among a garland of thorns.
Although I could smell old lime-covered
History, at ten I\u2019d still hold out my hands
& berries fell into them. Eating from one
& filling a half gallon with the other,
I ate the mythology & dreamt
Of pies & cobbler, almost
Needful as forgiveness. My bird dog Spot
Eyed blue jays & thrashers. The mud frogs
In rich blackness, hid from daylight.
An hour later, beside City Limits Road
I balanced a gleaming can in each hand,
Limboed between worlds, repeating one dollar.
The big blue car made me sweat.
Wintertime crawled out of the windows.
When I leaned closer I saw the boy
& girl my age, in the wide back seat
Smirking, & it was then I remembered my fingers
Burning with thorns among berries too ripe to touch.\u201d
Yusef Komunyakaa <\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nBlackberries
What makes the blackberry proud,
Is it the thorns that guard its crown?
The bramble bears a sweet surprise,
Beneath the stretch of the summer skies.
A mark, a bruise, a purple seal,
To prove the joy the wild can steal.
And those who reach through thorn to find
Will leave a little blood behind.
Each bite holds pride, both bold and deep,
A purple claim that Kings would keep.
There\u2019s pride in fruit that scars the skin,
The purple proof of what\u2019s within.
Angela Carraretto <\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nMirror Mirror On The Wall
I won\u2019t have my happy ending.
I will never believe that
Love is real.
I prefer the idea that
Beauty never loved the Beast.
It is not true that
Life is about love and not wealth,
In fact,
Prince Charming is a fraud.
I refuse to believe that
Miracles exist.
Imagination
Is merely an escape from
Truth
I am sure
Fairy tales are misleading.
There is no way that
Fantasies can become reality.
I will never forget that
I was lost in Neverland \u2013
Once upon a time
(now read from bottom to top)
Isabella Nossa <\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nMy sister is turning into a butterfly,
she unfolds her wings like delicate pages that have been folded too long
the pages lie smooth, ready for the first flight of ink.\u202f
she laughs and talks to people that i\u2019ve never met\u202f
spreading her story to others.
Each word a flutter carrying her further.
Each chapter written in a place i cannot follow.
She turns her pages faster now, her story spills into lecture halls,\u202f
no longer filling our room, where the bedsheets remain creased with memory
i still lean towards the echo of her laughter.
Whilst she scripts herself into a new world,\u202f
her wings remain unbroken, smooth.
My sister is a butterfly.
Esinam Asima <\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n