Ten year-old poet Esme has won a contest and performed her beautiful poem ‘The Piano’ at Latitude Festival in Suffolk to the applause from hundreds of festival goers. The poem was inspired by a piano handed down through the generations and the role it takes in easing Esme’s grandmother’s dementia.
On winning the contest the young writer told the BBC, “I was not expecting it because everyone else was so good, but I was just blown away, excited and happy.”
“We’re really proud of her,” said her mum, Sally told BBC Radio Essex. “She loves writing poems and enjoys going to the writing club that really inspires her.”
Esme regularly attends the Writers Room group at Fairycroft House where children write poems, short stories and songs.
“Esme is a quiet and unassuming girl, very unlike her writing which is always bursting with life. She arrives every week with a broad smile and her best friend Iris MacDonald,” said Paul Bellany who has tutored the group for almost ten years.
“We are all so proud of Esme’s achievement. She received a massive round of applause from her peers when she read out ‘The Piano’ in one of our recent sessions. It’s a magnificent piece of writing and quite astonishing that something so mature can be produced by someone so young. Give children the right creative environment and they will always surprise you.”
Funding permitting, Paul is hoping to have a new compendium of the children’s work published by the end of the year. Some of the ten books Creative Walden have published are on sale at the Tourist Information and Hart’s books, as well as online at Amazon.
For more information www.creativewalden.co.uk
The piano by Esme
It’s ancient and worn down
Clunky and colossal
So why does Great Nan still have it?
It’s not a precious fossil
My great nan has dementia
But this helps memory weave back through
She hums along, remembering the song
What a wonderful thing this can do
She owned the piano
And used it in her childhood
And when she had children
Taught them as any mother would
Like a river that keeps on flowing
Knocking away the dam
Like an athlete that kept on going
As they ran and ran and ran
It was played by my nanny
And the talent kept moving on
It was passed down generations
To me, my auntie passed it on
And now it is my turn playing
The piano standing there
So, I play the tunes, change the moods
And everyone gathers round my chair
From one generation to the next
Through family gatherings together
The piano at the heart
I want this to go on forever
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbNqGFpErzC
Esme (Right) with her best friend Iris at Writers Room.
