CALLING ALL POETS…

or anyone who enjoys putting ‘pen to paper’

So many people in our communities are horrified and disappointed at the apparent lack of awareness by National Grid, LionLink, SeaLink and other energy providers and projects, with regard to the devastating impact their proposed plans could have on our environment. The potential for long term destruction of the coast between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness and inland over a large swathe of our county, means not only loss of wildlife and their habitats, but a detrimental impact on the quality of life for residents, businesses and tourism for years to come.

Many of you will know of Suffolk Energy Action Solutions (SEAS) opposition to these plans and have seen their support for alternative solutions involving keeping most wind and energy infrastructure offshore, taking power via subsea cabling closer to where it is needed and connecting to the grid onshore at brownfield sites.

Here is an opportunity for an alternative protest which SEAS is supporting. We would love you to write a poem; maybe a sonnet, an ode, a ballad, an acrostic, a villanelle, a haiku or tanka, a shape poem a pantoum, an elegy or a poem in free verse. The poem you write might tell of the possible impact the onshore energy proposals could have on our landscape, our health, our community or our wildlife taking care not to berate any political party or individual as SEAS will be unable to publish them. You might choose to write about the beauty of the landscape or the wildlife within it as a powerful means of expressing your sense of appreciation for what we currently enjoy in our environment. So do please start writing, keeping your poem to an A4 size sheet with minimum font size of 12 but preferably larger. You may submit more than one poem.

SEAS will publish some of the poems across their social media channels, seen by many hundreds of people in the area and beyond. Each poem will have the copyright symbol added and be attributed to you as the poet. You may find it helpful to sign up to the SEAS social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, X), so you can follow the selected poems. Email your poems to SEAS at WithOneVoicePoetryChallenge@gmail.com  and make sure to include your name.

It could have further impact to display the poems throughout Aldeburgh and the coastal strip between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness, as well as other East Suffolk locations threatened by current plans, where they can be read by many more people. We hope to laminate selected poems and display them in a variety of places e.g. on lampposts, shop windows, notice boards, even Aldeburgh Community Hospital sensory garden which is a gem, open to all and the Spring flowers will soon be a delight to see.

Thank you in advance for your much anticipated offerings.

Anne Parsons      Piers Sturridge