LWH COMPETITION WINNER – AVRIL SCOTT with “DO YOU SEE ME?”
There’s a man on the roof mam,
There’s a man on the street,
There’s a man on the moon mam.
Love, you’re under my feet.
There’s a horse in the bedroom,
A dragon in the yard,
a panda eating bamboo.
Oh, son, you are a card.
There’s monsters in the cupboard,
A thief in grandma’s house,
A thing with scales on its head.
Don’t stop me little mouse.
There’s a fire in my room mam,
Flames eating at the walls,
Heat cracking the window, mam.
Boy, no more tales so tall.
All the firemen have gone mam
Rolled up their hose and left
Do you see me now mam?
Mam?
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Poem Analysis and Interview by Nadeem Shahid
The Lancashire Writing Hub are thrilled to announce the winner of the third competition to select the best pieces of writing submitted to our “Your Writing” page for comment and feedback from other writers.
As well as showcasing Avril’s poem on the LWH website, Avril also wins a copy of the Word Soup Anthology 2010. Read ahead for an appreciation of the poem itself and to gain an insight into the mind of our winning poet.
“Do You See Me” has been written in traditional quatrains, the lyrical metre is reminiscent of a nursery rhyme, adding to the playful ambience of the piece.
The piece begins with all the eagerness that only a child can bring; one can imagine a child clutching at the sleeve of his mother at the world they see before them, ‘a man on the street’, a man on the roof and then recalling a tale about a man on the moon. Imagination is sparked now and we hear about horses and dragons and pandas eating bamboo; at its peak we hear about monsters and a thief, fire and crackling heat. With each climb of the child’s imagination, we see the calming (if somewhat dismissive) reassurance of the mother turn more stern, until in a cruel twist of fate when the fire and crackling heat is not a fantasy but reality, the mother is silenced and all we hear is a singular child’s voice asking ‘Do You See Me?’
This poem has been beautifully written, the unstinting eagerness of the child’s voice in this poem is chilling considering the unfortunate consequences. Reading the LWH member feedback, ‘Jen’ drew comparisons to children’s book, “Not Now Bernard”, in fact going back further still one may find Aesop’s Wolf somewhere in the subtext! Let us see how Avril Scott arrived at such a thought-provoking poem.
INTERVIEW:
NS: Firstly congratulations on your win Avril! Do You See Me gives an acute and poignant glimpse of the relationship between a busy mother and eager child, highlighting the bitterly ironic circumstance in a well-known parenting situation. As a mother of four, was the inspiration for this poem reminiscent of your own experience or did you have a particular message you wanted to get across to the reader?
AS: Thank you. My influences were the books I read to my children, particularly There’s No Such thing as a Dragon, by Jack Kent, and Hilaire Belloc’s humorous but scary, Cautionary Tales for Children. In Kent’s story the child announces there is a tiny dragon in his bedroom but his parents do not believe him. The dragon grows bigger and bigger wreaking devastation in the neighbourhood until the parents have to admit it exists. The message to parents is, listen to your children, their imagination is a wonderful, powerful thing. Belloc’s Cautionary Tales were warnings to children about bad behaviour reaping deadly consequences. In my poem, the consequence of not listening to their child and not acknowledging his imagination may reap dire consequences for the parent.
NS: Can you tell us a little about your writing process. Are you one to be struck with inspiration or do you sit down with a purpose to write?
AS: Both. If I am inspired to write about something I have observed or feel passionate about I can just sit down and write, usually finishing quite quickly. This is how I wrote Do You See Me. If I have a project or deadline to work towards it feels less intuitive, more forced. It is a slower and more deliberate way of writing.
NS: This is not your first claim to fame, back in 1997 you had a monologue accepted and performed on BBC Radio North, how did that come about?
AS: I was taking a Creative Writing class at Preston College and one of the tasks given was to write a series of three letters where the reader only sees one side of the correspondence. I set my letters in the 19th century from a young woman called Mary to her friend Emily, hence the title, Letters to Emily. My tutor was kind enough to say she thought it was very good and encouraged me to write to BBC Radio North and offer it for performance. They took it, set it to the soundtrack of the Sense and Sensibility film which was popular at the time, an actress read the letters and they made a very good job of it.
NS: Can you tell us more about your experience learning from booker prize winner James Kelman at a writer’s holiday in Skyros, Greece?
AS: James Kelman is a hugely talented writer and it was a great privilege to spend time with him at the Skyros Centre. I still remember the things he said to us about writing, the close attention to detail needed, getting under the skin of your character and knowing how they would behave. He encouraged all the people on the course to experiment with style and form, and to give support to each other. We performed an end of holiday revue with some of the work we wrote with him and it was an uplifting and encouraging experience.
NS: You’re an avid attendee of writing workshops and have personally performed your work at Lancaster Lit Fest. More recently you were invited onto BBC radio by Blackburn’s very own Ted Robbins to perform your poem – how did it feel knowing your words are being broadcast to the nation?
AS: I was thrilled to be reading my poem on the radio, but it wasn’t about my poem really. We were promoting the books that had been produced by talented amateur writers using material from the Lancashire Record Office archives. It was of course a great privilege being on Ted’s programme. He was charming and his production team were very kind and said lovely things about our reading. I was thrilled when some months later I mentioned the programme to someone I met in hospital and she said she had heard the broadcast and remembered the poems. That is what we write for, to reach others with our words, it is very gratifying to be given the opportunity to reach thousands of people.
NS: The poem you read out on Ted Robbin’s Breakfast Show was from a collaborative works, ‘Milk & Martha proctor’ in 2009 – how did you became involved in that project?
AS: The project was promoted by email to Lancashire writing groups. I received the email and contacted Vicci McCann, Senior Archivist at the Lancashire Record Office offering to take part. I had four pieces included in the finished volumes and the one I read on the Breakfast Show was a poem called Living Messages which pointed out that the archives were full of written notes, letters, laundry lists, inventories, poems, court reports, wills, diaries, asylum admissions registers etc. all on original paper or parchment with inked handwriting. But in the present age these things mainly exist in an alternative cyber-reality which will not provide the same sense of wonder as ‘…a dusty box taken from a shelf, Ribbons tied around crackling paper’ to future generations.
NS: Although coming to study later in life, you have taken the academic world by storm (having achieved an honours degree in Woman’s Studies at University of Central Lancashire and are now currently enrolled at Edge Hill University attaining a Masters in Creative Writing), what are your plans for after completing your masters? Do you intend to fully engage in teaching or do you intend to study and enhance your craft further?
AS: I will concentrate on my own writing and will of course always be learning because it is an unending process. I hope to take more workshops and continue to engage with the LitFests; that is if the government funding cuts have not proved fatal to their plans.
I have some courses planned for the Summer Term and hopefully some more in September. Look out for Creative Writing courses advertised by Lancashire Adult Learning. I mainly teach in the South/East sector including Euxton and Whalley. My students tell me they have a good time, make new friends and learn a lot about writing!
NS: As a student and part-time lecturer, do you have any advice for the lay member of our LWH community contemplating the study of writing?
AS: If you want to learn the craft, the art of writing there is no better way than by joining a class of like-minded people led by a dedicated teacher. This applies whatever your level; interest only, diploma or certificate, BA or MA, give it a go. In general terms if you want to write you must read widely and in depth. You could subscribe to a writing magazine for tips on writing and competitions. Continue to be engaged with the LWH as being part of a writing community is very rewarding. Join a writers group, a book club or readers group. In short hang about with writers, they are great!
NS: Finally what can we expect from you in the future? Are you working on any projects at the moment?
AS: Finishing my dissertation, submitting work to publishers and planning a novel.
NS: Thank you for taking the time to give us an insight into all things Avril!
We’ll be looking forward to seeing more of your work in the near future, until then hearty congratulations from the LWH team and online community on your win!
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About Avril Scott
Avril has had a short monologue accepted by the BBC performed on BBC Radio North, and has had work accepted on Natterjack, About Writing and the Lancashire Writers Hub, and 4 pieces of her work have been published in the Lancashire Record Office 2009 project ‘Milk and Martha Proctor’. She has performed her work on Radio Blackburn, at Lancaster Litfest, and at LWH’s very own Word Soup. She is a creative writing tutor (more details in the interview).
congrats avril you know what you’re talking about.