Our Poetry Champions the Stoke Newington Poetry Reading Group tell us what the group made of the Olympics:
Collective experiences
Inevitably there were a range of views. People who, in the long run up to the games, were looking forward to the spectacle all seemed to enjoy it hugely when it arrived. People who were doubtful or antagonistic as the build up escalated – well, actually, quite a few of them seemed to enjoy it too. After the royal wedding and the jubilee, perhaps there’s a mood for collective experiences, a rediscovery of a common life?
Not that everyone felt the same way – as one olympo-sceptic noted when asked if it had affected their reading, “with nothing but sport on the telly, I’ve had no choice but to get through more books.” And what did they make of people who, despite having previously been the sort to seek refuge in the library at times of national sporting frenzy, had suddenly been converted to flag-waving zealots? “Shameful treachery.”
Theatre, pageantry, grace and generosity
Other members didn’t feel such a disjunction, and thought there was much to be inspired by, admiring the elegance and grace of sport at the highest level. People described being caught up in the excitement of events they’d previously never really known about (handball, walking races), being struck by the power and speed of the athletes (and marvelling at their abs – how hard do you have to train to look like that?). People’s imaginations were caught by the theatre and pageantry – the luminous bicycle birds were appreciated by cyclists in the group.
As well as the physical grace of the athletes, people were impressed by how so many seemed graceful in defeat, and (better still) magnanimous in victory. We’re not used, perhaps, to thinking of sport stars as so generous and fair minded. The public mood likewise seemed somehow elevated; the crowds watching the marathon cheerful despite the drenching rain, Hagerston Park having a festival air as people watched on the big screen provided by Hackney Council.
Poetry on the front page
Amidst all the enthusiasm, there were still ambivalent feelings – doubts about the commercialisation, the profiteering, the restriction of civil liberties and the worry about where our next generation of athletes will come from, if all our school sports fields get flogged off. Unequivocally good though, was seeing Carol Ann Duffy get her Olympics poem on the cover of the Guardian – how often does poetry make the front page?
Get involved
Meet our Poetry Champions who are celebrating the Olympics by reading, reviewing and blogging about the Winning Words anthology and sharing their favourite poems and Olympic themed stories.
Read the Not Scary Poetry Group and Winchester Poetry Reading Group response to the Olympics.
If your reading group is reading poetry or Olympic themed books, get in touch to tell us your stories.
Photo credit: id513128 used under creative commons license.
