A cultural event for Refugee Week supported by local poets

Around 30 people attended an event where poetry relating to the refugee experience was read by six participants. This was followed by tea and cake and lots of discussion. A book list had been produced to go with a display the library had put on for the week and a list of contemporary poetry by refugees will be put together and circulated.

Donations were given for Refugee Support Europe

Laura Strickland reading a poem she wrote especially for the occasion

Watch out for dandelions

swarming your garden                                      and your neighbour’s allotment

invading the fields                          your children play in

growing through cracks                    in the floorboards                tripping you up

if you give them an inch              they overrun                          your manicured street

to squeeze through the mortar of your house

                                                                      so the roof collapses into your kitchen

they take root                                        in all the hotel beds

so there’s no space                               for your friends to visit

and then you’ll get ill

                                                    when they take all of the food

                                                    and all of the water

for the ones that haven’t seeded yet

says the bloke in the pub

who heard it from his dad

who heard it from his dad