I am thrilled to bits to be the next poet-in-residence at Cyprus Well, walking in the footsteps of one of my literary heroes and all-time-favourite poets, Charles Causley. In fact, not just walking, living in them! I feel unbelievably lucky to get to spend several weeks in the place Causley called home for so many decades, in the house, town and county that shaped him and which he loved so deeply. I know it will give me a much richer understanding of his poems and I hope and believe it will spirit my own writing along a whole network of winding, as-yet-mysterious pathways. 

I fell in love with Causley’s work in 2020, when I finally opened the copy of his Collected Poems for Children which had been sitting on my bookshelf. I tumbled headlong into his enchanted, musical, warmly entertaining world, and emerged a dedicated and devoted fan. Like me, Causley wrote for both adults and children, and it has been a source of great inspiration to me how he leaps between styles, themes and moods for both audiences, his distinctive fingerprints detectable on every poem, whether he is writing with unbearable poignancy about war or telling the story of a woman who has decided to live in a tree. A Causley poem is full of serious strangeness, beguiling music, and deep empathy. 

I wrote about his way with the last lines of a poem in a blog for the Children’s Poetry Summit, and then delved further by teaching two courses around his work for The Poetry School. I was hooked – as were many of my students! I now run a children’s poetry workshopping group (part of The Poetry Society’s regional network of ‘Stanzas’), which is called Zig Zag in homage to Causley, specifically referencing his poem ‘As I Went Down Zig Zag’. Zig Zag is a real footpath, and the fact that I will now be able to go down it myself makes me giddy with delight! I’m sure if I look hard enough, I will find the man sailing a seven-barred gate… 

A bit about me: I have published three poetry pamphlets for adults, two with The Emma Press and my latest, Disappointing Alice, with HappenStance. Recent work for children includes search-and-find poetry-and-picture book If You Go Down to the Woods Today (Magic Cat, 2021, illustrated by Freya Hartas), translated into twenty-seven languages worldwide, and a week’s worth of poems in The Big Amazing Poetry Book (Macmillan, 2022). I am also the founder and editor of Tyger Tyger Magazine, an online journal of new poems for children. 

As well as writing as much as I can during my stay, I will be working with local community groups and schools, sharing my love for Charles Causley and writing new poems together. I can’t wait to explore the local area – the deep green world of Causley’s wonderful nature poems – and will be sharing photos of my meanderings, hopefully in the Cornish sunshine! Watch this space or sign up to the Causley Trust newsletter for news of my activities and upcoming workshops, readings and open mic events.  

https://www.rachelpierceypoet.com/ 

Twitter: @RachelPoet 

Instagram: @rachelpierceywriter