“Grit, humour and heart”: Pompey poets hit the Guildhall big screen on National Poetry Day 2025
Portsmouth poets hit the big screen in Guildhall square this week to celebrate National Poetry Day.
Thursday, October 2 marked National Poetry Day 2025, with local poets showcasing their “unique voice” on the big screen. The poems displayed to passers by were picked by Pompey Poetry Party after encouraging local artists to submit a two to three minute video of their work.
Caroline Brennan, co-ordinator at Pompey Poetry Party, said Portsmouth’s literary scene was “vibrant, diverse, and inclusive” and heralded 2025 as a “landmark” year for poetry and performance in the city.
She said: “It’s a city where spoken word and performance poetry is thriving, with events popping up across venues big and small, from festivals like Victorious to community initiatives and youth groups.”
The poems covered a range of subject matter, with lockdown, queerness, marriage, and grief being among the diverse array of themes touched on by the winning poets.
However, the performances found a common ground in the imagery used: again and again, poets returned to images of water, waves and sand, or to iconic Portsmouth landmarks like Albert Road and the King’s Theatre.
Charlotte Faulconbridge’s poem ‘Finger Painting,’ told in BSL, said: “So you have etched your initials into a heart in the sand, then watched the waves drag them out to sea — that’s how it feels, to finger paint without acrylics.”
The celebration is part of ‘In Our Words’, a year-long literary festival from Portsmouth Creates which aims to “inspire, engage and connect people”, including “people who may not typically read poetry.”
University of Portsmouth students Harry Matthews, Daisy Grove and Sophie Fisher were among the 25,000 passers-by who fell into this category, saying that while they didn’t have an established interest in poetry, they were drawn in by the performances.
Harry, a first year student, said: “It grabbed our attention.”
Caroline describes Portsmouth’s “unique voice” in its poetry. She said: “Being the UK’s only island city gives us a perspective you just don’t get anywhere else, and our proud naval heritage definitely seeps into the stories we tell.
“Plus, we’ve got our own little quirks — our Pompeyisms like ‘dinlo’ and ‘squinny’ pop up all over the place, even in poems! Portsmouth poets bring grit, humour and heart into their work, and I think it’s what really makes our poetry stand out.”
Jackson Davies’ ‘Ode to Albert Road’ featured Pompeyisms like “mush,” “din” and “squin,” while Jonathon Aylett’s ‘The Ballad of Jenny and Jack’ was a heartfelt tribute to Portsmouth’s naval history and “the sailors who didn’t come back”.
Mentions of pubs, pints, and Pompey FC were countless, but with every piece of Portsmouth iconography came a deeply personal story. ‘A Beech Tree in Borthwood’ by MAWGIAS (Middle Aged White Guy In A Suit, AKA. Tim Cooper) was written to honour his late brother, Dan Cooper.
Tim’s performance began with a photo of Dan jubilantly raising a Pompey FC scarf, a reference to Dan being an avid Pompey fan, who “followed every match, through bad times and good.”
A short introduction to the poem explained that Dan lived with multiple sclerosis for 20 years — “and by ‘lived,’ I mean ‘really lived’” — before passing away in 2022.
Dan and Tim’s mother watched on from the Guildhall steps, with mixed emotions but a “huge amount of pride.”
Lesley Cooper said: “I wasn’t expecting it, [Tim] is a maths geek — he solves problems and writes poetry.”
Lesley described how the poetry from her childhood has stayed with her all these years. She recited lines from W. H. Davies’ ‘Leisure’ poem: “‘What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.’
“I remember thinking as a 10-year old, yes — that’s true, I like that.”
The event was a collaboration between several organisations, with Portsmouth Creates, Pompey Poetry Party, Big Screen Portsmouth, Arts Council England, and Portsmouth City Council all working together to bring National Poetry Day to Portsmouth. Big Screen entries were judged by Richard Williams, who served as the writer-in-residence at Portsmouth FC.
For more details or to find upcoming events, go to www.pompeypoetryparty.com.