(((( Pulp - Paper - Poem: Creative writing and paper making for asylum seekers at Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers
The aim of the Pulp-Paper-Poem project, running at SDCAS between October 2006 and March 2007 with writer and artist Ceri Buck, is to provide access to creative ways of working with words for clients and workers at the centre.
“The project encompasses creative writing strategies and various visual art strategies, including papermaking. On this project, we play with words; cutting, pasting, editing, selecting, making lists, pulling fragments into an order and working collaboratively. The objective is to find ways to express ourselves, our many selves, to have a voice, to have many voices. Our writing emerges from our experiences, our endless conversations with other people. We write in order to raise self-esteem, to communicate, to be part of a writing community. We expand our vocabulary and improve our English … learning a language can open up new worlds to us and within us. We are learning how to make paper because it is a great way to get to know plants; banana skin, blackberry leaves, stinging nettles … and to recycle old envelopes. When we make paper, we work with our hands, and with our whole bodies, not just with the mind or part of ourselves. We have made books out of our writing and the paper thereby self-publishing our work.” Ceri Buck
(Let us shadow side by side)
What I mustn’t forget to tell you
In a free world, there will be signs everywhere saying “Don’t be discouraged”
When I feel excited and happy, it’s as if I live in a world where the stars are fireworks
When I feel unsettled, it’s as if I’m a dead person
I don’t feel close to people until they say I will help you
There is nothing more beautiful than feeling hopeful
There is nothing more beautiful than the laugh of a child
There is nothing more beautiful than forgetting your differences with another
I lose my concentration when what is said is far from the truth
The desire for change is recovering from illness
The desire for change is a walk together with a friend
Written by the creative writers
14/11/06