Leaving Man

Posted by lukewrightpoet Category: Diary Entries

I wrote the following on Wednesday at the airport on The Isle of Man:

Today I leave the Isle of Man. The last three days have been brilliant. The poems I heard at King William’s College today and St Ninian’s yesterday were some of best I have ever heard from students. It has made the perfect end to what has been a great visit.

My thanks go out to the Isle of Man Arts Council for having me, and to Emma and Anji who have made me feel so welcome. A special mention to Anji who first contacted me to come over here two years ago and has truly become a good friend. I shall miss you.

But I’ll be back I’m sure. I hung around at King William’s today talking to the wonderful English teachers there. It’s a private school and consequently the teachers have a freer reign over what they teach there. I have my issues with private education, both personally and politically. I believe, as John Prescott laid out in his excellent documentary on class that having a private system means that many of the best teachers and resources are attracted away from the public system. Personally, I went to a fee paying school, essentially, bar one of two truly inspirational teachers, a very poor one, and I hated it. Still, that said I believe on the whole they are able to offer a much better education because the teachers are free to teach what they feel if important to their pupils. The English teachers I have met at Eton, Charterhouse and now King Williams are able to give their students a truly passionate and unique education and they (the students) are a lot better off for it. Teachers should be empowered once more. The national curriculum is a farce. We forget most of what we learn at school anyway, at least give these passionate, intelligent, creative, and inspirational people the opportunity to guide their students how they see fit.

I took time after chewing the fat in the staff room to walk on the beach and admire the breath taking scenery that surrounds King William’s  here in Castletown. I must admit that I got a little emotional. I have a spent a great deal of time on my own these past 2 weeks and I’ve done a lot of thinking and writing. I’ll be sad to leave this place behind. However, it is time to go. I miss my wife like hell and I need to get back to my life. There is also much work to be done. I found out last night that Zara Hayes (director) and I have been commissioned by Channel 4 to create a documentary. It’s called a Brief History of Love and it will be told in verse, my verse. It’s very very exciting, but at the moment I am terrified. This is probably the most significant job I have got in the last ten years of this poetry lark and I know it has to be exceptional. No doubt I’ll be posting our progress as we go along.

Right, time to board. I’m coming home!

One thought on “Leaving Man

  1. Channel 4 gig sounds good, sure it’ll be just as good as the other stuff i’ve seen you do, keep up the amazing work

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