Rowan McCabe, a poet from Heaton in Newcastle upon Tyne, has spent months knocking on doors across UK council estates, offering to write poems for strangers on any subject they choose. The project, which began at the Byker Wall estate near Newcastle city centre, was met with scepticism from locals and friends alike. A taxi driver told him it would never work, while a trainee police officer advised him to carry pepper spray and no valuables.
Despite the warnings, McCabe's first encounter at Byker Wall proved transformative. A resident named Carl, initially unimpressed, asked for a poem about getting wrecked before changing his mind and requesting one about how much he loved his girlfriend. The resulting poem about their first date was well received, and McCabe went on to write for seven people on the estate that day.
His journey took him to Boston in Lincolnshire, described as England's most divided town, where he met Pauline on Taverner Road. She requested a poem about banger racing, prompting McCabe to attend an event at Skegness Raceway to learn about the sport. In Moss Side, Manchester, a man referring to himself as 'the specialist' praised McCabe's freestyle approach and compared him to an 18th-century time traveller, inspiring a poem about that very idea.
In Jaywick, Essex, often labelled the most deprived town in England, McCabe met Sarah, who lamented the media's tendency to focus only on negative stories. She asked for a poem about Jaywick's best side, leading him to discover its beaches and a fish and chip shop called Ozzy's. McCabe noted that the response was consistently positive across all estates, whether residents were poetry fans or not.
Reflecting on the experience, McCabe argues that poetry should be accessible to all and questions who poets imagine will read their work. He believes the tour challenged his own preconceptions, revealing a wide variety of people in every place and the power of taking time to listen.
