{"id":1568,"date":"2019-07-10T12:14:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2019-08-05T14:11:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T14:11:43","slug":"rowan-mccabe-door-to-door-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/2019\/07\/10\/rowan-mccabe-door-to-door-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowan McCabe: Door to Door Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

We spoke to North East poet and creator of Door-to-Door Poetry, Rowan McCabe, about poetry, kindness, and Brexit Britain…<\/h2>\n

What is Door-to-Door Poetry?\"\"<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Door-to-Door Poetry is a project where I make a nuisance of myself by knocking on stranger\u2019s doors and writing poems for them, for free, on any subject they like. When they answer I ask if they have a minute to spare; if they say yes, I do a poem which asks them what\u2019s important to them. Then I go away and write a poem about this and bring it back a few weeks later.<\/p>\n

What has the project taught you about attitudes in Brexit Britain towards community? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big one! One thing I\u2019ve noticed is that, in general, people don\u2019t know their neighbours. When it comes to Door-to-Door Poetry, they tend to assume that their neighbours won\u2019t get involved too. I often meet people who take part in the project but say things like: \u2018No one round here will be interested in this.\u2019 The truth is quite the opposite. Whether it\u2019s in a council estate, or a wealthy gated community, I\u2019ve learned that people are actually a lot more sociable than you might think.<\/p>\n

I think poetry is the perfect medium for the digital age. We\u2019re oversaturated with information and people want art which is instant, engaging<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It feels like we\u2019re in the midst of a poetry revival right now\u2026 why do you think people are connecting to poetry more now than ever before? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I think poetry is the perfect medium for the digital age. We\u2019re oversaturated with information and people want art which is instant, engaging, but which takes you on a journey too. Whatever social media platform is invented, someone always seems to find a way of getting poetry into it. Which is what I\u2019ve always loved about the art form really, it\u2019s so flexible, you can put it anywhere.<\/p>\n

Door-to-Door Poetry states an emphasis on \u2018the kindness of strangers\u2019. We are often taught to be wary of people we don\u2019t know, has Door-to-Door changed your own feelings around this? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Yes. I don\u2019t know if I ever would have tried this in the first place if I didn\u2019t have an inkling that people were generally decent. But, when I first started, I wasn\u2019t sure if it was even going to work. Through the course of the project, I\u2019ve met people who\u2019ve done exceptionally kind things for me that I never would have expected, sometimes in places which are perceived to be very dangerous too. It\u2019s really made me reassess my feelings about strangers.<\/p>\n

Through the course of the project, I\u2019ve met people who\u2019ve done exceptionally kind things for me<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is it about poetry as an artform that lends itself to this kind of project? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The fact you can do it anywhere. You don\u2019t need anything except a voice, or a pen and paper. It takes a lot less time than something like \u2018Door-to-Door Novels\u2019. And \u2018Door-to-Door Paintings\u2019 would be cool, but you\u2019d have to carry all the canvases and easels and paintbrushes and everything. No, it just seems easier this way.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been the most challenging aspect of Door-to-Door?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Honestly? It\u2019s how open people can be and finding the right response to that. Occasionally, you hear a story which is tragic. I met a lady called Margaret recently in Boston, Lincolnshire, who asked for a poem about her daughter being murdered. You\u2019re in a very particular position when something like this happens, because your job is to listen and express something back. But you\u2019re also not a councillor either, it\u2019s not your job to get too involved.<\/p>\n

But this seems like a sad place to leave this interview on though. Maybe I should have just lied and said \u201cBroken doorbells\u201d? Sometimes I get holes in my shoes\u2026<\/p>\n

Find out more about Door-to-Door Poetry<\/a>. Rowan will be performing the Door-to-Door Poetry show at Canada Water Theatre<\/a>\u00a0on 5 September at 8pm.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We spoke to North East poet and creator of Door-to-Door Poetry, Rowan McCabe, about poetry, kindness, and Brexit Britain… What is Door-to-Door Poetry? Door-to-Door Poetry is a project where I make a nuisance of myself by knocking on stranger\u2019s doors and writing poems for them, for free, on any subject they like. When they answer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"article_type":[9],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-as","article_type-read"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":49,"label":"A+S"}],"article_type":[{"value":9,"label":"Read"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rowan-McCabe__1484314943_128.65.101.133.jpg",800,533,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Alice Frecknall","author_link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/author\/alice\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":49,"name":"A+S","slug":"as","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":49,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":192,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":49,"category_count":192,"category_description":"","cat_name":"A+S","category_nicename":"as","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}