Homeless in the house of Keats
By Mark Cantrell
Poet Benjamin Zephaniah took in a group of homeless and
vulnerably housed people to show them around Hampstead House, London, and lead
them in a poetry workshop; all part of efforts to help them overcome their
problems.
The group were all involved with the Crisis Skylight London
initiative, part of the charity Crisis’ effort to help the homeless, and the
tour and writing workshop were aimed at boosting their confidence as much as
introducing them to home of the Romantic poet John Keats.
“This may be a wonderful grand house in a very expensive
part of London, but when Keats came here he was down, he was lout, he was
homeless, he was ill and needed help,” said Zephaniah. “Actually the number one
group of people who should come here should be homeless people.”
Keats lived out the final years of his life at Hampstead
House, Wentworth Place, Hampstead, having gone there in despair after losing
his parents and brother to tuberculosis.
Zephaniah is currently the poet in residence at Keats’
former home. After the tour and creative writing class, the group took part in
an impromptu poetry reading session. “Creative writing is one of the classes
the charity offers to help vulnerable and homeless people rebuild their
confidence, which can be ground down by the experience of homelessness,” said a
spokesperson for the charity.
In the poetry session, Zephaniah talked about his early life
and how he became a poet. To illustrate his ‘backstory’ he read both early
poems and recent examples of his work. Crisis members then talked and performed
some of their own poems.
“It’s been really positive because I didn’t want to just do
a workshop where I am the expert and I’m just lecturing to people,” Zephaniah
added. “It was a sharing poetry experience with a group of people who are
really passionate about poetry.”
MC
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