My Bedsit Space, by Sharon Wright

Congratulations to Sharon Wright, whose poem ‘My Bedsit Space’ won our Spaces Inside Places competition.

My Bedsit Space

I once lived in a Bedsit

In a shabby part of town

It was so very small and cramped

I could hardly turn around

In the corner was a cooker

Shielded by a screen

A divan lay in the middle

Where I could sleep and dream.

I’d visualise a future

As I gazed at damp old walls

My life would be so perfect

In fact I’d have it all

I’d drive a BMW or maybe a brand new Merc

Owning my own company I’d live and breath my work

My husband would be gorgeous

My kids have high IQ’s

I’d never suffer from PMT

Or ever get baby blues.

My young and silly day dreams

Would dance around the room

Failure not an option

For me no doom and gloom.

Many years have passed by

Since I met the force of fate

Longing is a word now

I hardly contemplate.

But there are pocket moments

When hope shines from my face

Then I’m a foolish girl again

Back in my very own Bedsit Space.

A Forest Transformation, by Christopher Cabrera

Once upon time, there lived a man called Gawain with his beautiful wife Cortana. They lived with their thirteen year old daughter Susan and twelve year old twins Eric and David, They lived in a small cottage in a forest. One day while they were eating breakfast, Eric asked: “Dad, can we go fishing today for dinner?”

Gawain replied: “Of course we can. We all will.”

“Actually I was going to stay and do the washing up,” said Cortana.

“Can I stay with mum please?” pleaded Susan.

“Ok, you can.”

So at one o’clock Gawain, Eric and David went fishing.

The fishing was brilliant. Gawain caught three, Eric caught two, and David caught one humongous fish. When they got home, Cortana and Susan saw the humungous fish. Susan screamed: “That is the biggest fish I have ever seen”

“Indeed. You caught Fishzilla!” laughed mum. Then they all laughed.

Later that night, they were eating fish when Gawain saw a mysterious engraving on the fish bone. Instead of putting it in the bin, he sneakily put it in his coat. The were all wearing coats because it was very cold that night. The next day, Gawain went out to see if the engraving on the fish bone belonged anywhere. Then he noticed a cave and he went down to explore. While he was down deep inside the cave, he noticed that on the wall, there was a slot shaped like the fish bone and had an engraving in it just like the one on the bone. So Gawain pushed the bone into the slot and then, Magic! All the trees that were in the forest turned into pure solid gold! When Gawain got home everone shouted in a chorus: “I can’t believe all the trees are gold!”

But as they used the gold more and more, Gawain got greedy. Every person that came into the forest he tried to kill. Cortana, Susan, Eric and David wanted all of this to stop. Somewhere else in the forest lived a wizard who wanted all of this to stop as well.

The next day the wizard cast a spell. Then only one tree at a time was pure gold. This actually helped Gawain to stop being greedy. So in the end Gawain didn’t try to kill people anymore, and Cortana, Susan, Eric and David didn’t have to waorry about Gawain trying to kill people anymore and they all lived happily ever after.

The End

RCA student interim show

The RCA students who have been responding to Barking, the BLC, Yemisi and the young people from Arc and Gascoigne Primary School are currently exhibiting their work at the Royal College of Arts on Kensington Gore.

Spaces inside Places Competition

As part of Barking Metamorphosis, Royal College of Arts students created a temporary ‘writer’s space’ in the library at Barking Learning Centre for the writer-in-residence, Yemisi Blake.

We want to hear about your ‘spaces’. Did you make dens as a child, as an adult? Is there a special place you go to write, or to read, or to dream?
Write us a story, a poem, a paragraph, or draw us a picture.

All entries will be published on this  blog, and our favourite one received before 2nd February 2009 will win a £15 book token.

Competition entry cards are available at the Barking Learning Centre, or from Barking and Dagenham’s Art’s Service (020 8227 2482). You can write your entry on a card and hand it to BLC library staff at any counter, or email your entries to spaces@urbanwords.org.uk.

Please remember to leave your contact details and where you are happy to do so leave your age, gender and ethnicity as well.

More work from Gascoigne Primary School

Thomas Campaigns | Where should the postbox go?

Three photos from Thomas’ postbox campaign: Dec 3rd 2008

Last days

My time at the BLC is fast coming to an end. Friday is the last that I’ll actually be writing in the building. I’m putting the finishing touches on a piece that links all of the chairs together, a kind of fictional exhibition curation. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been arriving at the BLC in daylight and leaving as the sun is shutting up shop. Looking in the opposite direction of the BLC entrance, you can see the town hall and the brilliant changing colours throughout the day. I’ll miss this.

Photos from workshop with Arc Theatre

Lost your glasses

Here’s a clip from our first workshop with ARC theatre group. The exercise was to create a scene set in the new forest. Playing the lead role is Jozephine, one of the RCA Design students.

The Writer’s Room, by Gascoigne Primary School

Lucia Grace Williams, she made all sort of sculptures with the bits and pieces she collected, but she never could feel the imagination, and she always wanted to live her stories. She wanted to have the same lifestyle, so with all her bits and pieces she collected she made a little beautiful place where people could express their feelings, where you could live the lifestyle of your story. She used logs, branches, chairs, tables, beds, twigs and limestone, also sea shells. People could just be so imaginative and the things you made could be so lively from the ideas you got in that place.