Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
Roger Stevens: Guided Tour
“I really enjoyed listening to all the poems in the Archive. It’s fantastic to hear poets reading their own work. It took me a long time to choose my favourites – I think it would be much easier to choose fifty rather than six! But here are my favourite poems today. Tomorrow I might be feeling differently – and have a different list.”
Roger Stevens is an author, poet and performer who visits schools, libraries, festivals and museums all over the UK. He’s the author of several solo collections and his poems for children appear in over 200 anthologies. Roger has taught creative writing for adults at the University of Sussex and is currently working with Roehampton University and The Poetry Society developing a new poetry module for the teacher-training curriculum. His adult poetry books include ‘Searching For Blue Sea Glass’, ‘Jazz in the Quiet Carriage’ and ‘The Next Station is Barking’.
I have always loved Adrian's poetry and I was really pleased to find this poem in the Archive. Adrian was a great peace campaigner and here he seems to be saying that you can be strong, like an elephant, without being aggressive. You can be gentle at the same time as being firm. This poem has a great rhythm - and I love the line 'Elephants walking like time'.
Kit Wright has written some good poems. He wrote 'The Magic Box' - which teachers are always asking children to put things in. I like 'Red Boots On' because it's full of energy and it's really happy. It reminds me of being young, being outside in the wind or the rain or the snow, having no worries and running, just for the sake of it.
I like poems that describe particular moments in time and this one takes a moment from Ian's day (or night) and captures it exactly. It's a lovely poem because the description helps you feel the emotion of the moment so well. Like Kit Wright's poem, this is also about happiness. But it's a much quieter happiness. A gentle, unassuming poem.