Peeling

Remember slathering your palms, the table, and the person sitting next you in PVA glue? Remember how it felt to peel it from your skin?  In this workshop with Rachel Long we’ll begin with some tactile play, try to explain what peeling is through what it feels like. Then we’ll widen our search – think about sheets, wallpaper, webs. We’ll ask why peel back, pull away? We’ll peer into and underneath, think about honesty, unmasking, gutting, revealing. Dreams. Windows. We’ll look to writers Warsan Shire, Kathryn Maris & Lydia Davis for light.

These poetry workshops are produced in collaboration with Poetry School. Founded in 1997, Poetry School is a national arts organisation providing inspiring tuition and opportunities for poets and poetry audiences.

Rachel Long is a poet and the founder of Octavia – Poetry Collective for Womxn of Colour, which is housed at Southbank Centre, London. She is Assistant Tutor to Jacob Sam-La Rose on the Barbican Young Poets programme 2015-present.

Photo: Amaal Said