Galen O’Hanlon & Poppy Medenis
Poem Tennis
Galen
When we started working together, Poppy was seven months pregnant. It gave us two things: a bit of urgency on the deadline, and a natural state of reflection on what becoming a parent means. I’m a dad to two small kids, and having nothing else to talk about was actually quite useful.
There was a sense of balance and flow in our conversations. One of us on the threshold of parenthood, one in the hall, scrabbling around for the light switch. We chatted about the idea of parenthood as an expression human.kind, of how becoming a parent makes you think about your own childhood, about your parents – how you felt then, how you want to feel now, how much you can change, who you want to be. In all of it, Poppy was so calm and generous and thoughtful – every call we had was a delight.
I loved Poppy’s approach to working together: she suggested we start with free-writing and then see whatever came up. I agreed – despite thinking how difficult I would find it to do that, how if I’m writing a poem I tend to start with a line and lay it out like a railway track. Once we’d shared our first explorations, it felt natural to take a line of Poppy’s and follow whatever it brought up, then pass it back. We called it Poem Tennis, and used Whatsapp to create our poem together, line by line.
Poppy
I loved the experience of collaborating with Galen and letting our conversations become poems. We shared some of our own human experiences, touching on parenthood, care and doubt. We spoke about how poetry helps us make sense of what it is to be human, to feel, to love, to become.
The free-writing allowed me to create space in my life to process changes and emotions. It reminded me how poetry helps me to record what’s happening and understand it better. I used it in a journal-like way to just capture thoughts without hesitating or over thinking.
We came together and read each other’s writing. Having someone take care over reading my words felt precious. As Galen shared his thoughts and we discussed the writing, it helped me discover things about my feelings that were hidden within the lines.
The poems are being displayed as part of the 26 Connections exhibition during the Bloomsbury Festival and until mid-November. The exhibition features interpretations of the poetry by artists from the Lettering Arts Trust. The exhibition is free at the Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT