Introduction

The Embedded Poets Project is a truly unique and innovative poetry project aimed at reuniting communities with poetry through the production of new commissioned work along with programmes of workshops and performances on key social and cultural issues affecting the region.

The first issue to be addressed was that of suicide by young men in the Highlands and Islands, and in 2006 HI~Arts appointed the poet Stephen Watts as its first Embedded Poet to work on the project.

With funds from Scottish Arts Council, HIE and the NHS ChooseLife Programme, and the co-operation and assistance of many local organisations, groups and individuals - including The Samaritans, Suicide Awarness Group and Ross County Football Club LifeSkills Through Sport Programme - Stephen was able to work both formally and informally with many affected by this issue in the region.

His work involved many workshops, meetings and seminars, and Stephen produced a collection of poems that grew directly from his time on this project, and which also brought together earlier unpublished poems on related themes and issues. For both Stephen and HI~Arts as an organisation, this project was an extraordinary exploration of the power of poetry in daily lives, and whilst at times the issues involved were difficult and challenging to encounter and address, the outcome was nothing short of affirmative and uplifting.

The Language Of It - Download The Complete Poetry Collection

The poems produced by Stephen Watts as part of this project are published by HI~Arts under the title 'The Langauge Of It'.

On this page you will find downloadable files containing 'The Language Of It', the complete poetry collection by Stephen, produced during his time as the Embedded Poet. 
 

Video Poem Downloads

 As part of the project, poems from the complete poetry collection were read by Stephen and filmed. Copies of selected films are available for download from this page.

The films were produced and directed by Peter Urpeth, Writing Development Co-ordinator, HI~Arts, and were shot and edited by HCVF, Inverness. The films are (c) HI~Arts, 2008. All Rights Reserved. A DVD with the full collection of films is available free of charge for groups or individuals wishing to use the poems as part of creative writing or film elements of a programme of education, support or therapy on issues of mental health or suicide prevention, awareness and understanding. Please contact HI~Arts to obtain a copy.

Workshops, Discussions & Training

We are very happy to consider any requests by local or national organisations to provide training or workshop events on the issues raised by this project, and to provide readings and discussions with Stephen Watts. Please contact HI~Arts if you would like to discuss this further.

The Poet - Stephen Watts

 Stephen Watts was born in London in 1952: “My father’s family came from Stoke-on-Trent, my mother’s from the Swiss Italian Alps and I have cultural roots there and in Scotland. In the early 70’s I lived on North Uist working as a shepherd and since 1976 have been working in Whitechapel in the East End of London."

"I have published two books of poetry – The Lava’s Curl and Gramsci & Caruso and edited several anthologies – Houses and Fish (a book of drawings with writing by 4 & 5 year olds), Voices of Conscience (an international anthology of censored poets), Mother Tongues (a special issue of Modern Poetry in Translation), and Music While Drowning (an anthology of German Expressionist poems). I have read at international literary festivals, worked extensively as a writer in schools and hospitals, and currently work at the Multicultural Arts Consortium in London.

"At present I’m completing a book of long poems to be published in 2005, working of prose on Whitechapel. I have translated some contemporary Persian poets, including Ziba Karbassi, and the Yiddish poet Avrom Stencl, and have compiled a bibliography of 20th Century poetry in English translation due to be published shortly. Some of my poetry has been translated into Czech, Persian, Italian, Spanish, and Finnish. My son, Miquesh, at the present time lives in Lima.”

On the project...

Stephen said: "I am very excited by this commission. It will require of me hard and sensitive work – always a good thing – and it has the potential to pull poetry back into close, strong contact with people’s individual lives. I feel that it can also provide an impulse to bring the passion of poetry back close to the sense of community. This commission – to create a body of work around issues of suicide in the Highlands and Islands – will, I believe, foster the engaged commit-ment and creative empathies that are basic to poetry, as to our individual and community lives. I feel very, very positive about this.

"Language, for me, is innately celebratory and both language and poetry matter a lot in our lives. I am also aware that they can be a resource for the outlet of stress and pain for us : all of us listen – or fail to listen – to each other. For me much of the poetry of living is precisely in such listening : writing poetry parallels both the balances and tensions within our lives.

"I am very much looking forward, with a calm passion, to this commission and the chance to expand on ground-breaking work, and I welcome also the possibility of returning to places in the Highlands and Islands that mean a great deal to me and that I feel are rooted in my poetry. The potential for making new work available is equally exciting: I believe strongly that real creative expression, built on a respect for individuals and the individuality of shared language, has a positive role to play in the issues and concerns of this Hi~Arts ‘Embedded Poets Project’.

Robert Livingston, Director, HI~Arts, said: ‘We’re delighted to welcome, as our first Embedded Poet, a writer of considerable standing and experience. Stephen will bring a fresh and informed perspective to this important theme.’

HI-Arts welcomes submissions from poets interested in this subject, which may be published on this website.  Please email peter@hi-arts.co.uk with your work and contact details.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that HI~Arts is an arts development agency. HI~Arts staff do not provide a treatment, counselling or advice service for those in crisis. If you are in crisis or feeling suicidal we urge you to seek help from your general practitioner, through a telephone help line service such as Samaritans (UK telephone number 08457 90 90 90), or by discussing your problems with a family member, friend or colleague. Further information on support services is available at the Choose Life website: http://www.chooselife.net