Two poems and a worksheet by Cliff Yates
We are grateful to the Museum-University Partnership Initiative for funding that allowed us to commission the following poems and worksheet from Cliff Yates. The poems, which also appear in Cliff's pamphlet Birmingham Canal Navigation (2020), arise from visits to ThinkTank Birmingham Science Museum and Coventry Transport Museum. The poems are followed here by a worksheet on 'Writing a Poem Based on Transport.'
Cliff Yates
Spitfires were built in Castle Bromwich
1. Thinktank Birmingham 2019 / Aircraft factory 1940
Iconic the shape
above us, the spread
of the wings
Let’s hear it for the women
of the engine production line
the lathe, the drill, the milling machine
Sit in the cut-away cockpit
pull back the lever, press
the red button
for the muffled drone
For the mechanics, riggers and fitters
assembling Spitfires in the assembly shed
Falafel sandwiches, mugs of tea
and a Penguin, all we need,
as out on the street
snow turns to ice
For the sunken rivets and the elliptical wing
For the first test run –
the precision roll and the vertical climb
No grip, and we’re single file
on the pavement, holding onto the rail
shouting to be heard
shouting into the cold
Panning shot of Spitfire flying at speed
2. Fisher & Ludlow, Castle Bromwich (former aircraft factory) 1950
Mum in the offices,
Dad on a job there,
carpenter and joiner.
She notices how his boots are shiny
(‘a man who cleans his shoes…’)
how he’s always neat and clean –
collar and tie, brown denim overalls,
pencil behind his ear –
and respectful, they’re not all like that.
‘Would you like to come to the dance?’
‘No, I can’t dance.’
‘I can teach you.’
Cliff Yates
Sky Blues Bus
1. 17th May 1987 [in the voice of a 1980s BBC newsreader]
On a historic day, PDU 125M, the last bus built in Coventry, this morning carried Coventry City football team on their victory parade through the city, following their 3-2 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur in yesterday’s FA cup final. The Daimler Fleetline, donated to Coventry Transport Museum last year, was painted sky blue and converted to an open top vehicle specially for the parade.
Asked for a statement, after what will most likely be its last journey anywhere, the bus was reportedly too choked with emotion to be able to speak. A lifelong Coventry City supporter, this was undoubtedly the proudest moment of its working life.
2. The impact of the Coventry bombing on the city’s transport infrastructure
My mother in Hall Green, Birmingham,
lying in bed, 14 November 1940
after her shift in the factory (toolmaker)
hearing the planes flying over one after the other
and the relentless, night-long sound of bombs:
‘I remember thinking, somebody’s getting it.’
Salvage from the tramway tracks was enough
to build 180 heavy tanks, but the Coventry bombing
did it for the trams.
An abandoned tram,
blown over a house in the bombing, landed
in the garden, windows intact.
3. 17th May 1987: The last bus
Sky blue flags and sky blue scarves
people on a roof, hanging out of windows
climbed up traffic lights, climbed up trees
cheering for the players
cheering for their team
cheering for the victory
cheering for the dream
their heroes waving, smiling, holding up the cup
on the open top deck of the double decker bus
apart from the bus route, the streets are quiet
ghost town
Sunday
listen –
turn down the volume of the shouting and the singing
listen –
underneath the shouting
underneath the singing
the bus is in a dream…
they’re cheering me on, cheering me on
they’re cheering on the last bus home
there’s no blues like the sky blues
cheering on the last bus home
Cliff Yates
WORKSHEET: WRITING A POEM BASED ON TRANSPORT
1.CHOOSING YOUR SUBJECT
Choose whatever exhibit you feel drawn to. It doesn’t have to be the most high-profile object in the museum. One of my favourite items in Coventry Transport Museum is an old bike, in the same condition as when it was abandoned.
2.MAKING NOTES
Once you’ve chosen your subject, make as many notes as you can. Jot down your first impressions and whatever strikes you – its colour, shape, condition. Also write down what it makes you think of – whatever comes into your head. These might be personal memories or associations. Write down also any information about the vehicle – names, numbers, etc. that you see on the museum labels. Make notes about your journey to the museum and anything that is happening around you, including sounds you can hear. Take photos of your vehicle or other travel-related object too, if possible. When writing your poem, refer back to these notes for extra ideas.
3.’FREE WRITING’: THE FIRST DRAFT
You’re now going to write for 4-5 minutes without stopping. Write whatever comes into your head on one of the following subjects. You should write in lines (not to the edge of the page) so that it looks like a poem. The main thing is not to worry about what you’re writing, about spelling, punctuation, sentences, because the only person who’s going to read this version is you. The hardest part can be starting, so in the paragraphs below I’ve given you the first few words as an opening – write these down and then carry on writing. The openings are suggestions, so feel free to change them or to make up your own. If you prefer, you can choose something from your notes as a starting point.
***VISIT TO THE MUSEUM Write about your visit to the museum and encountering the vehicle you have chosen, including anything that has happened so far today and details about the vehicle itself. Include random detail and anything that strikes you, for example something someone said, something you ate, something you saw from the train window on the way. Your opening might be ‘This morning I…’ Include anything you have written down in your notes (this applies to all these suggestions for writing).
***THE JOURNEY Write about a journey of the vehicle, real or imaginary, from the point of view of either a passenger (if it carries passengers) or the driver/rider. Include detail, because detail is what makes writing come alive. Invent freely – the time of day, the weather, places passed through. There’s no need to write about a whole journey – concentrate on a scene or two. It could be the first or last journey of the vehicle’s working life. Your opening is: ‘I remember…’ An alternative to this is to write about a journey you remember, one that occurs to you when thinking about your vehicle, or your journey to the museum today.
***THE DREAM Imagine that the vehicle is alive, asleep and dreaming. Write down its dream as if you’re the vehicle, beginning, ‘I dream…’ The dream might be about a particular journey, real or imaginary. Again include detail. It’s a dream, so anything can happen, and you can cut randomly to different scenarios and ideas, bringing in as much detail as you like.
***THE CONNECTION Look for a connection with the vehicle, based on your own life or the life of a friend or a member of your family, and use that as a starting point of your poem. When I checked out Castle Bromwich aircraft factory I discovered that it was bought by Fisher and Ludlow in 1945. I remembered my mother telling me that Fisher and Ludlow was where she met my dad, and I used that story in my poem about the Spitfire in Thinktank Birmingham. I also used family history in my poem about the Sky Blues Bus in Coventry Transport Museum – the story of my mother hearing the planes fly over on the night of the Coventry bombing. Your opening line might be ‘I remember…’ or ‘That time we…’
4.TAKE A BREAK, COPY IT UP
It’s now time for a break. Check out the rest of the museum, maybe, and then find the café. Over your drink, look over your free writing, adding any detail you like. When you’re ready, write it out again in your notebook on a new page. Remember to write in lines so that it looks like a poem. Leave out anything you’re unsure about. Take your time. When you’re done, give it a title, eg the name of the vehicle. That’s it – you have your poem.
5.TIPS ON TAKING IT FURTHER
*When you get home, type up your poem, making any changes you like. Read it aloud to yourself – if anything doesn’t sound right (trust your instinct), take it out, or change it so that it does. Write using the everyday language you use when talking to someone you know. Use names, like brand names (eg Sturmey Archer gears). Also, take out any words you don’t need. If you would like more ideas on how to work on your poem, check out my piece for the Young Poets Network (suitable for writers of all ages!), ‘Rewriting: Get the best from your poems’: http://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/features/re-writing-get-the-best-out-of-your-poems/
*Research your vehicle after your visit for extra material. In researching the Sky Blues Bus, I found pictures of Coventry City Football Club’s victory parade, which gave me some great material for my poem.
*Read a few contemporary poems to get a feel for what poems can do. In Transit: poems of travel edited by Sarah Jackson and Tim Youngs (The Emma Press) is a good place to start. And the Poetry Archive online is a great resource: www.poetryarchive.org
*The great thing about poems is that they’re so short that it’s possible to write one fairly quickly. It’s also possible to spend many hours on a poem. They are just like journeys in that respect and in other ways too. They can be over quickly or take longer. They might take us to unexpected places or they might make us see familiar things differently. However you approach writing poems, the most important thing is to enjoy it. Best of luck with your writing.
Cliff Yates’ poetry collections include Henry’s Clock (winner of the Aldeburgh prize), Frank Freeman’s Dancing School and Jam. Formerly Royal Literary Fellow at Aston University, he wrote Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School during his time as Poetry Society poet-in-residence. www.cliffyates.co.uk
We are grateful to the Museum-University Partnership Initiative for funding that allowed us to commission the following poems and worksheet from Cliff Yates. The poems, which also appear in Cliff's pamphlet Birmingham Canal Navigation (2020), arise from visits to ThinkTank Birmingham Science Museum and Coventry Transport Museum. The poems are followed here by a worksheet on 'Writing a Poem Based on Transport.'
Cliff Yates
Spitfires were built in Castle Bromwich
1. Thinktank Birmingham 2019 / Aircraft factory 1940
Iconic the shape
above us, the spread
of the wings
Let’s hear it for the women
of the engine production line
the lathe, the drill, the milling machine
Sit in the cut-away cockpit
pull back the lever, press
the red button
for the muffled drone
For the mechanics, riggers and fitters
assembling Spitfires in the assembly shed
Falafel sandwiches, mugs of tea
and a Penguin, all we need,
as out on the street
snow turns to ice
For the sunken rivets and the elliptical wing
For the first test run –
the precision roll and the vertical climb
No grip, and we’re single file
on the pavement, holding onto the rail
shouting to be heard
shouting into the cold
Panning shot of Spitfire flying at speed
2. Fisher & Ludlow, Castle Bromwich (former aircraft factory) 1950
Mum in the offices,
Dad on a job there,
carpenter and joiner.
She notices how his boots are shiny
(‘a man who cleans his shoes…’)
how he’s always neat and clean –
collar and tie, brown denim overalls,
pencil behind his ear –
and respectful, they’re not all like that.
‘Would you like to come to the dance?’
‘No, I can’t dance.’
‘I can teach you.’
Cliff Yates
Sky Blues Bus
1. 17th May 1987 [in the voice of a 1980s BBC newsreader]
On a historic day, PDU 125M, the last bus built in Coventry, this morning carried Coventry City football team on their victory parade through the city, following their 3-2 defeat of Tottenham Hotspur in yesterday’s FA cup final. The Daimler Fleetline, donated to Coventry Transport Museum last year, was painted sky blue and converted to an open top vehicle specially for the parade.
Asked for a statement, after what will most likely be its last journey anywhere, the bus was reportedly too choked with emotion to be able to speak. A lifelong Coventry City supporter, this was undoubtedly the proudest moment of its working life.
2. The impact of the Coventry bombing on the city’s transport infrastructure
My mother in Hall Green, Birmingham,
lying in bed, 14 November 1940
after her shift in the factory (toolmaker)
hearing the planes flying over one after the other
and the relentless, night-long sound of bombs:
‘I remember thinking, somebody’s getting it.’
Salvage from the tramway tracks was enough
to build 180 heavy tanks, but the Coventry bombing
did it for the trams.
An abandoned tram,
blown over a house in the bombing, landed
in the garden, windows intact.
3. 17th May 1987: The last bus
Sky blue flags and sky blue scarves
people on a roof, hanging out of windows
climbed up traffic lights, climbed up trees
cheering for the players
cheering for their team
cheering for the victory
cheering for the dream
their heroes waving, smiling, holding up the cup
on the open top deck of the double decker bus
apart from the bus route, the streets are quiet
ghost town
Sunday
listen –
turn down the volume of the shouting and the singing
listen –
underneath the shouting
underneath the singing
the bus is in a dream…
they’re cheering me on, cheering me on
they’re cheering on the last bus home
there’s no blues like the sky blues
cheering on the last bus home
Cliff Yates
WORKSHEET: WRITING A POEM BASED ON TRANSPORT
1.CHOOSING YOUR SUBJECT
Choose whatever exhibit you feel drawn to. It doesn’t have to be the most high-profile object in the museum. One of my favourite items in Coventry Transport Museum is an old bike, in the same condition as when it was abandoned.
2.MAKING NOTES
Once you’ve chosen your subject, make as many notes as you can. Jot down your first impressions and whatever strikes you – its colour, shape, condition. Also write down what it makes you think of – whatever comes into your head. These might be personal memories or associations. Write down also any information about the vehicle – names, numbers, etc. that you see on the museum labels. Make notes about your journey to the museum and anything that is happening around you, including sounds you can hear. Take photos of your vehicle or other travel-related object too, if possible. When writing your poem, refer back to these notes for extra ideas.
3.’FREE WRITING’: THE FIRST DRAFT
You’re now going to write for 4-5 minutes without stopping. Write whatever comes into your head on one of the following subjects. You should write in lines (not to the edge of the page) so that it looks like a poem. The main thing is not to worry about what you’re writing, about spelling, punctuation, sentences, because the only person who’s going to read this version is you. The hardest part can be starting, so in the paragraphs below I’ve given you the first few words as an opening – write these down and then carry on writing. The openings are suggestions, so feel free to change them or to make up your own. If you prefer, you can choose something from your notes as a starting point.
***VISIT TO THE MUSEUM Write about your visit to the museum and encountering the vehicle you have chosen, including anything that has happened so far today and details about the vehicle itself. Include random detail and anything that strikes you, for example something someone said, something you ate, something you saw from the train window on the way. Your opening might be ‘This morning I…’ Include anything you have written down in your notes (this applies to all these suggestions for writing).
***THE JOURNEY Write about a journey of the vehicle, real or imaginary, from the point of view of either a passenger (if it carries passengers) or the driver/rider. Include detail, because detail is what makes writing come alive. Invent freely – the time of day, the weather, places passed through. There’s no need to write about a whole journey – concentrate on a scene or two. It could be the first or last journey of the vehicle’s working life. Your opening is: ‘I remember…’ An alternative to this is to write about a journey you remember, one that occurs to you when thinking about your vehicle, or your journey to the museum today.
***THE DREAM Imagine that the vehicle is alive, asleep and dreaming. Write down its dream as if you’re the vehicle, beginning, ‘I dream…’ The dream might be about a particular journey, real or imaginary. Again include detail. It’s a dream, so anything can happen, and you can cut randomly to different scenarios and ideas, bringing in as much detail as you like.
***THE CONNECTION Look for a connection with the vehicle, based on your own life or the life of a friend or a member of your family, and use that as a starting point of your poem. When I checked out Castle Bromwich aircraft factory I discovered that it was bought by Fisher and Ludlow in 1945. I remembered my mother telling me that Fisher and Ludlow was where she met my dad, and I used that story in my poem about the Spitfire in Thinktank Birmingham. I also used family history in my poem about the Sky Blues Bus in Coventry Transport Museum – the story of my mother hearing the planes fly over on the night of the Coventry bombing. Your opening line might be ‘I remember…’ or ‘That time we…’
4.TAKE A BREAK, COPY IT UP
It’s now time for a break. Check out the rest of the museum, maybe, and then find the café. Over your drink, look over your free writing, adding any detail you like. When you’re ready, write it out again in your notebook on a new page. Remember to write in lines so that it looks like a poem. Leave out anything you’re unsure about. Take your time. When you’re done, give it a title, eg the name of the vehicle. That’s it – you have your poem.
5.TIPS ON TAKING IT FURTHER
*When you get home, type up your poem, making any changes you like. Read it aloud to yourself – if anything doesn’t sound right (trust your instinct), take it out, or change it so that it does. Write using the everyday language you use when talking to someone you know. Use names, like brand names (eg Sturmey Archer gears). Also, take out any words you don’t need. If you would like more ideas on how to work on your poem, check out my piece for the Young Poets Network (suitable for writers of all ages!), ‘Rewriting: Get the best from your poems’: http://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/features/re-writing-get-the-best-out-of-your-poems/
*Research your vehicle after your visit for extra material. In researching the Sky Blues Bus, I found pictures of Coventry City Football Club’s victory parade, which gave me some great material for my poem.
*Read a few contemporary poems to get a feel for what poems can do. In Transit: poems of travel edited by Sarah Jackson and Tim Youngs (The Emma Press) is a good place to start. And the Poetry Archive online is a great resource: www.poetryarchive.org
*The great thing about poems is that they’re so short that it’s possible to write one fairly quickly. It’s also possible to spend many hours on a poem. They are just like journeys in that respect and in other ways too. They can be over quickly or take longer. They might take us to unexpected places or they might make us see familiar things differently. However you approach writing poems, the most important thing is to enjoy it. Best of luck with your writing.
Cliff Yates’ poetry collections include Henry’s Clock (winner of the Aldeburgh prize), Frank Freeman’s Dancing School and Jam. Formerly Royal Literary Fellow at Aston University, he wrote Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School during his time as Poetry Society poet-in-residence. www.cliffyates.co.uk
