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Climate Poetry

Poets have long used their craft to reframe issues, convey emotion and share ideas, and climate change is an increasing feature of poetry shared across the world.

To mark the launch of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, we paired University of Leeds poets with Priestley Centre climate researchers to have a conversation that inspires a new poem.

Find the full playlist of poetry videos on our YouTube channel.

 

Kate Simpson and Professor James Ford

Kate Simpson is part of a Doctoral Training Programme in Extinction Studies, sitting between the School of English and the School of Earth and Environment.

Professor James Ford is Priestley Chair in Climate Adaptation and his research focuses on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, working closely with Indigenous communities in the Arctic and globally with a major focus on health and well-being, food security, wildfires, and resource management.

Following their conversation, Kate wrote the poem ‘Adaptation Gap’ based on an epigraph from Emily Berry’s ‘Unexhausted Time’:

Adaptation Gap Kate Simpson I don’t like the way things have turned out [] at least help me with their static nature. Tell me, plain as water, the rivers will be available – will always show up here – that I’ll be able to pull out an armful, a well-coated limb, some mutable knowledge, or affective vapour. When we met you said tomorrow would be full of shrinking margins, fewer outlets, or at least that’s what I remember. I asked if skin would always mediate content appropriately. Don’t like the way things have turned out [but] feelings of wetness are just best guesses, they may just be cold. Isn’t that wild? And today is different entirely. I am here to greet stressors in the imaginary, drink from a glacier and expect ceremony. Is there anything more sustainable than memory? Is there anything less secure? Like the way things have turned out [but the] lore is like this, not sentimental, not all the time. Sensitivity is a lagoon that’s been separated from a larger body. I arrive at the meeting, a soothsayer of all key points to come. I say things are likely to flow from here on out. Cycles, in our mouths, are more often than not failures, or at the very least incomplete shapes. I did not mention this. To fail is to completely miss the point, the way things have turned out [but the law] means we can all complicate hope’s diction. [I don’t like the way things have turned out] but the law is the law. Emily Berry You ask if this will be able to compete, by which you mean communicate, I think. At the most, I say, no. On the ice cap I exhibit post-traumatic growth, live meaningfully for a handful of seconds. I walk atop crushed material – which is to say it all made its way here – but as omission. Things have turned out [but the law is] like this, heads under, in, and above. Identifying priorities is like proposing preferred states of matter. I say I will leave no trace. This is an estimate. Flinching is a quick synonym and a slow act. This is not something I have learned, only found amidst melt, which is always interpersonal, which means it goes both ways. I am supposed to have turned out [but the law is the] language which can be made plain. I am asked to find alternative outputs for all this, which makes me feel watery, which is a state of which I know just over half. There is limited space for that here. The geography of a line is much different to a globe. To cope under pressure mostly means moving, or being moved, neither of which are linear. Turned out [but the law is the law] was more often than not a form of turning back, an attempt to clear emotion as it surged toward you. I won’t be here when you feel it, from here on out [but the law is the law.] A piece of art, thaw, policy perhaps.

 

Matt Howard and Dr Katie Wright

Matt Howard is manager of the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and is a poet and environmentalist who worked in various roles for the RSPB for more than a decade.

Dr Katie Wright works in the School of Sociology & Social Policy and her expertise is in the role of the public and communities in policy agendas, in particular urban planning, climate adaptation, societal transformations and emergency planning and response.

Following their conversation, Matt wrote the poem Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air, 1775:

 

Professor John Whale and Dr Lone Sorensen

Professor John Whale is Director of the University of Leeds Poetry Centre and Professor of Romantic Literature.

Dr Lone Sorensen is Associate Professor of Political Communication and her research focuses on the relationship between citizens and public representatives as it pertains to questions of knowledge and truth and especially as it is enacted on digital platforms. She also explores polarisation and populism, and is increasingly focusing on climate politics.

Following their conversation, John wrote the poem Jizz:

Blaise Sales and Jasper Rees

Blaise Sales and Jasper Rees are previous Priestley Climate Scholars. Blaise is a poet and literature student in the School of English and Jasper is a scientist in the School of Biology.

Following their conversation, Blaise wrote the poem Heat Stressed Moth:

 

Simon Armitage

At our launch event we also showcased a poem by Poet Laureate and Professor of Poetry in the School of English, Simon Armitage. He wrote The Summit following a trip to Svalbard: