AN innovative climate activist arts organisation, Cape Farewell, has launched a new creative project with support from the Arts Council Emergency Funding. The project, entitled Siren Poets, commissions poets Liv Torc, Pete Bearder, Shagufta Iqbal and Chris White to create work that responds to the two alarming threats that are shaping the future of humanity: disease and environmental destruction. Their launch is accompanied by a collaborative piece of writing, Sirens, which is spoken aloud by the four poets and has been shared across the Siren Poets socials. Cape Farewell was set up in 2001.
The former Bard of Exeter and Radio 4 Slam winner, Torc, said, “The right poem, in the right moment, on the right social media, can travel around the world faster than a government can write up a marketing strategy, faster than new environmental policy; maybe not faster than fear, but it can chase fear down and limit the damage.” I have to agree – it reminds me of Ruth Awad’s poem, Moral Inventory, which was published in Wildness Journal.
It begins as follows: “What good is your goodness, really, / if it is undone as soon as it begins? / I flew across an ocean slicked with plastic, / and I am still afraid of whales even though I know / they are choking on our trash.” Awad’s poem flooded Twitter and demonstrated the instantaneous reach of resonant words. When it comes to speaking imaginatively about things that matter, poetry has a powerful voice and a distinct role.
Introducing the four Siren Poets
The formidable four show versatility in their practices, which will contribute to the project’s exciting array of artistry. Pete Bearder, spoken word poet, comic and former UK National Poetry Slam Champion, will satirise climate activists in his spoof, Sponsor an Activist, while also creating an homage to Gaia – to be performed as a duet with Florence Pardoe, lead vocalist of The Bare Souls.
Focusing on plastic pollution, Chris White, slam poet and former Bard of Exeter, will gather an assortment of people’s favourite plastic things for his feature, Plastic Love Stories. In addition, he will be collaborating with musician Hal Kelly for his poems on plastic pollution and will contribute a poem a week to BBC Radio Devon.
For those of us distressed by the impact of the virus, Liv Torc will offer space to come to terms with its emotional turmoil, using creative tools for collective regeneration. Last year, her poem, The Human Emergency, was released on YouTube, showcasing Torc’s aptitude for ecological storytelling and performance – in strokes comparable to her fellow Siren Poet, Chris White, she is conscious of the places “where oceans press plastic kisses to the shore”.
Award-winning writer, filmmaker, TedX speaker and workshop facilitator, Shagufta Iqbal, will address climate justice through her engagement with food politics. In previous work, Iqbal has been praised for her passionate social commentaries – her debut poetry collection, Jam is for Girls, Girls get Jam, is a compelling meditation on race and gender inequality in modern society.
Readers will be able to access newly commissioned material on the Cape Farewell website, a platform that will also host performances and workshops. The initiative was founded by David Buckland as a way of implementing change via artistic means, using culture to reinvigorate conversations around ecological devastation.
“Cape Farewell’s history shows that issue-based art can inspire a diverse audience,” Buckland observes, “unifying communities through a common cause.” With the current pandemic and environment crises far from over, it has to be said that often an emergency gives rise to the emergence of pioneering creative strategies. Siren Poets is that kind of endeavour.
by Alice Hill-Woods