22 POETS


The word on the street


Following in the footsteps of some of the greats, a new generation of poets are finding their inspiration in Greenwich. Glyn Brown went to meet just a few of them


When you think of poetry hotspots, Greenwich may not spring instantly to mind. If you pondered, you’d of course remember former poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. In 1957, Day-Lewis moved from Kensington to a Georgian house at 6 Crooms Hill. He took with him his wife, actress Jill Balcon, their daughter Tamasin and son Daniel. Day-Lewis had always struggled with depression – but, said Balcon, it dissipated when he wrote, and he wrote a lot here, perhaps soothed by the wild green space of the park. You might also think of the plaque at 115 Maze Hill to poet Helena Mott, who lived here from 1941 until she died in 1951. A poem of hers is quoted on it, which begins, “The summer’s breath is spent upon the hills...” and seems to fit this airy vantage point. But surely Greenwich must inspire other poets? It does. Come with me... It’s a bitter February night and I’m sitting in


The Star & Garter pub on Old Woolwich Road. Inside it’s cosy and welcoming, and in the back room comics and poets are setting up for an Open Mic night. Among them is a man with wild auburn curls wearing a bowler hat and a multicoloured Doctor Who scarf. Paul Norcross, aka Paul the Poet, performs with an act called We Should Get A Boat. A mixture of stand-up and free verse, WSGAB are truly Pythonesque and have worked with Harry Hill, Arthur Smith and the late Malcolm Hardee. A mind-blowingly fun night includes absurdist, oddly thought-provoking poems, Paul accompanying himself on trombone. I stagger out very late, after a poem, I think, about leprosy, and just as WSGAB start singing I Am The Walrus... A few days later, Norcross and I chat in a


more sedate manner. I tell him his poems made me double-take. “That’s brilliant.” A laugh. “The


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