In this week’s poetry news roundup, we look at the University building renamed after a poet, Celebration Day, and the poet’s love of the lawnmower.

University Building Named After Late Poet

Birmingham City University (BCU), which awarded the late Benjamin Zephaniah an honorary doctorate in 2005, has renamed its four-storey University House the Benjamin Zephaniah Building. The building is home to science labs, a space for technology and design, general teaching rooms, and an art room.

The poet, who was raised in Birmingham, left school at the age of 13, unable to read or write. During his career, he wrote poetry and literature. He was an activist, musician, and actor – starring in the BBC series Peaky Blinders. Speaking about the decision the Vice Chancellor of the university said that Zephaniah had always tried to “”give a voice to the voiceless” and to show that education must be inclusive.”

Last year, the BCU decided to launch a poetry competition in his honour. This year’s contest has now launched and will be open for entries until 21^st July.

Celebration Day

A new annual movement, titled “Celebration Day” has been established with the idea of commemorating friends and family.

Amongst those who will be taking part in the day are the actors, Toby Jones, Helena Bonham Carter, and Asa Butterfield. They will be performing poems that are dedicated to those who are no longer with us.

The idea was first conceived in 2022 by a number of high-profile figures with the idea of setting aside one day in the year and was inspired by celebrations like the Day of the Dead which is held annually in Mexico. The first celebration took place on 26^th June 2022 and the decision was made to hold it in the future on the last bank holiday Monday of May.

The first video of a reading this year will feature Helena Bonham Carter reading “Don’t Let That Horse” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which she dedicates to the memory of her grandmother, affectionately known as “Bubbles”.

Other poets whose work will be featured this year include Sheenagh Pugh and Wilfred Owen, with Toby Jones choosing an ASJ Tessimond poem, “Portrait of a Romantic”.

Poetry “Obsession” with Lawnmowers

Academic research has been undertaken that indicates that British poets have been writing about mowing lawns for almost 375 years.

The study, authored by Francesca Gardner from Cambridge University, argues that there is a tradition of “lawnmower poetry” that can be dated back to the 17th Century and that, whilst this may appear to be rather random,

In 1651, the poet Andrew Marvell used a scythe to comment about the violence that occurred during the English Civil Wars. Philip Larkin wrote a poem that described the killing of a hedgehog with a motorised mower in 1979. Andrew Motion wrote an elegy to his father in 2007 that talked about mowing the lawn, and in 2017, “I Wish I Loved Lawnmowers” was penned by Mark Waldron.