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Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: Table for One, Please
by Panya Banjoko
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: Table for One, Please
I never did Brixton as a teenager,
nor raved at the carnival.
I was 200 miles away
busy having kids,
having slapped myself to a man
who liked to slap back.
I was waiting for forty,
and all the wisdom it would bring
in helping me to know who I was
and where I’d be in the next twenty.
I didn’t see strolling into a sea food restaurant
in Brixton on the horizon,
but there I was,
surrounded by tangerine walls,
with a lobster hanging over my head,
this is what freedom can be.
I wondered, of all the fish in the sea
which would sound like me,
as I fluted the words, table for one, please.
A special thank you to our WordView 2025 poets.
Hear from some our winners this year on what the Archive and winning has meant to them:
"I feel deeply grateful to be taking part in the chorus of voices honoured by PAN Worldwide 2025. Leonard Cohen famously sang that “every heart to love will come, but like a refugee.” For me, the same might be said of poetry. I came to the writing of it late, and thank The Poetry Archive for providing the encouragement to continue being brave in sharing it." - Michelle Robin Visser.
"I think it shows the importance of live spoken word to share poetry as equally as the printed word for some audiences." - Steve Harrison.
"Being part of the PAN Worldwide 2025 collection alongside 17 incredible poets from across the globe is both an honour and a reminder of the unifying power of poetry. Moving forward, I think this experience will stay with me, it has encouraged me to continue writing with honesty and openness, and to remember that my voice is part of something much larger than myself." - Panya Banjoko.
See the collectionWatch the full Wordview 2025 playlist