Jessica Lyon-Wall (pictured left) showcased Bones, her first poetry collection, live at Tea Amantes Tea Room and Gallery, supported by writer Elaine Ridgeway (right) who shared tales of her trip to Peru as a volunteer teacher. Linda Hampton went along to listen.
Undeterred by a bitter winter’s night in January, poetry lovers piled in to Tea Amantes Tea Room and Gallery, to soak up the literary vibes of two local emerging writers. Elaine Ridgeway and Jessica Lyon-Wall, students of creative writing at Blackpool and the Fylde College, presented extracts of their work to a word-hungry crowd.
Elaine Ridgeway opened the evening with an account of her trip to the mountain region of Cusco, Peru, in June 2022 as volunteer teacher of English. After the sad passing of her husband, Elaine, finding herself alone, decided to follow a lifelong desire to visit Machu Picchu. This working holiday was a perfect opportunity to realise her dreams with a plan to write about the experience for her portfolio in the third year of her degree.
Elaine’s touching stories told of her teaching children from deprived families who spoke little English obliging her to teach in Spanish and translate, adding an extra challenge. Her photographs of smiling, colourfully dressed children illustrated the joy of the trip. It seemed appropriate to take Paddington Bear to Peru and his enjoyment was clear in photographs of the beloved bear in different locations.
The trip was not without its problems as Elaine listed flight delays, lost luggage, body searches, missed connections and, most dramatically, a game of hide and seek with airport security worthy of a James Bond movie. She described her experiences as ‘fabulous and humbling’ and has already begun to document the full story for her degree portfolio.
To be a creative in these challenging times means to recognise that one’s creativity is not restricted to just one genre. Jessica Lyon-Wall has travelled through the genres and come full circle with her first poetry collection, Bones.
Jessica was writing poetry (her first genre) as a teenager and won the school poetry prize. Writing stories (second genre) was always a passion. She later gravitated towards a diploma in performing arts (third genre) and this led to a new passion for singing and playing guitar (er, that’s two more genres) Jessica formed the musical duo, All My Ghosts, and gigged original music (genre – songwriting) until 2018, releasing an album, single, and EP. Following the deterioration of her arthritis she turned to poetry again, embarked on an English and Creative Writing degree, the results of which are the skeleton of her latest work.
Jessica’s relaxed and informal delivery of her poems drew the audience in as she laid bare her private thoughts on relationships, healing, and life with chronic illness and mental health conditions.
In The Craft she shares the sadness about her passion for dancing that could not be fulfilled due to chronic illness. It’s a metaphor for life in general and resonates with everyone when we reflect on ambitions of our own not realised. Even though she can no longer dance, the poet seeks the positive at the end asking the reader to one day:
‘…read my epitaph.
I’ve breathed life into words…’
When I fall asleep paints another intimate picture of living with a chronic illness. We’re touched by the image of her mother practicing to be able to inject her young daughter. The poet points out:
‘But oranges don’t bruise and satsumas
Don’t feel pain.’
Pain experienced by both mother and daughter – a poignant reflection on the experience of a mother dealing with a child’s illness.
You Know I’m Right is a graphic reflection on domestic abuse. A too-intimate picture that makes the listener feel like an intruder. But the poet wanted it to be said and known. It is a heartbreaking insight that made the launch of her book even more touching to listeners knowing she came through it.
Jessica’s influences include Carol Ann Duffy, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf. Her work is not easy to hear with the painful subjects she covers but it is beautifully written, uplifting and honest.
Jessica lives in the North-West of England with her partner, son, and cat Dave. She is currently working on her first novel. She hopes her words will help other survivors of domestic abuse.
The audience streamed out into the cold night air warmed by the words of two talented emerging writers.
You can get your copy of Bones via Amazon. Price £10, Kindle £7.99.
To read more about Elaine Ridgeway’s preparations for her trip to Peru, alongside Paddington Bear, visit her Blog site www.peruandmarmalade.co.uk
Photos: Anna Paprzycka
