READ REGIONAL 2019

DISCOVER BRILLIANT

NORTHERN WRITERS

CLARE SHAW

Flood is my third collection of poetry. It tells the story of the floods, which submerged whole swathes of the UK in 2013, and again in 2015 - with a particular focus on my hometown, Hebden Bridge. The destructive power of water runs throughout Flood - but it isn’t just about natural disasters. Flooding represents other events that leave us feeling out-of-control, powerless and broken - like trauma, mental breakdown, bereavement, and relationship break-ups.

And neither is the book all about damage. I live in the centre of Hebden, which was left largely underwater after the terrible Boxing Day floods of 2015. But the very next day, hundreds of people came to help - from local people who had lost their homes but wanted to save others, to the Sikh men who drove up from London with food and blankets. In drawing a comparison between the impact of trauma, and the catastrophic damage caused by flooding, I also wanted to reflect how resilient and supportive our community was, and how courageous and determined we can be when we face own our individual difficulties and disasters.

For me, there’s something special about poetry’s ability to capture extreme experiences and feelings. That’s why we tend to turn to it at times of great sorrow or joy. Poetry uses every element of language: not just meaning, but also sound, form, rhythm, silence, structure, line breaks. Truths aren’t told in a straightforward way - instead, they are sung, or hidden, or shouted, or told sideways. Although Flood is written in a contemporary style, it uses established poetic techniques to create all sorts of effects: to be a river in flood, a ruined town. To sing songs of fury and loss. To express love. To celebrate.

FLOODClare ShawPublished by Bloodaxe

‘These poems reveal a deep level of profundity, leaving a mark as indelible as the high-waterline of a receding flood.’ John Irving Clarke

Questions and Prompts for Discussion

1. How accurately do you think this book depicts the impact of flooding? Why do you think this?

2. What other subjects does this book address?

3. Can the experience of flooding be compared to other more personal disasters, like bereavement? How?

4. Some of the poems - for example, ‘Grabbed’ - portray traumatic experiences. What is the role of poetry in helping people survive trauma and other difficult experiences?

5. Poems like ‘This is a Man’ use ventriloquism - they put words in other people’s mouths. Is this a good way of giving voice to silenced people, or does it silence them even further?

6. Clare Shaw has sometimes been described as a “performance poet”. Do you think that some poems work better in performance than on the page?

7. Flood is written in a contemporary style, but uses traditional poetic techniques, like rhyme. What is the impact of these different ways of writing?

8. Does this book have a political message?

9. Do politics have a place in poetry?

Recommended Further Reading

The Art of Falling, Kim Moore (Seren)Fauverie, Pascale Petit (Bloodaxe)A Light Song of Light, Kai Miller (Carcanet)Considering the Women, Choman Hardi (Bloodaxe)Lulu, Selima Hill (Bloodaxe)Don’t Call Us Dead, Danez Smith (Chatto Poetry)Wild Nights, Kim Addonizio (Bloodaxe)Look, Clare! Look!, Claire Pollard (Bloodaxe)Dart, Alice Oswald (Faber)The Woman Who Was Not There, Joelle Taylor (Burning Eye Books)

READ REGIONAL 2019

DISCOVER BRILLIANT

NORTHERN WRITERS

newwritingnorth.com #readregional newwritingnorth @newwritingnorth nwnnewwritingnorth