England: Poems from a School, edited by Kate Clanchy – review

A poetry anthology by immigrant schoolchildren in Oxford are full of heart and resolve

This is the work of pupils at Oxford Spires academy, written over the nine years the poet Kate Clanchy has been writer in residence there. The school is a comprehensive in what she describes as “the poverty-stricken east of the sprawling, industrial, undreamy conurbation of Oxford, well out of sight of the famous spires”. There is a mix of different nationalities in the classroom – Lithuanian, Korean, Syrian, Brazilian, Tanzanian, Afghan, Polish. But what is even more extraordinary is that this is a school where poetry is encouraged as though it were a sport. Clanchy has set out to stifle any notion that “poetry belongs only to the privileged”. In this school, the invitation is to express what might not be expressed elsewhere – poetry is a place, if never quite a home.

The question of home and the various countries these writers (aged between 11 and 19) have left behind, often in traumatic circumstances, dominates. The book may have “England” in its title, but what is striking is how – aside from an unflattering snapshot or two of Oxford’s Cowley Road, where what stands out for 17-year-old Asima Qayyum is its ethnic mix (“aka the Road of Nationalities”) – England seldom comes into focus. It is the lost countries that are more vivid. And where you might expect exotic variety (writing styles themselves range from simple to sophisticated, with a handful of translations from Arabic), what is most moving is the sense that exile has a collective voice, a shared tone. Stoicism, sadness, resolve – this writing is hard won. There is an inwardness and, at the same time, the poems invoke one another. And they are not depressing, even when the subject matter distresses. On the contrary, they shine.

Related: Poem of the week: Leaving home at 10 by Harry Garuba

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