Write in the Head

Dean Atta is a London-born poet of Greek Cypriot and Caribbean descent. His poem ‘I Come From’, explores how his identity is shaped by his unique memories and experiences.

In this exercise, we use Dean’s poem as a starting point to write out own poem celebrating our own cultural roots.

Step One: Read the poem through

Don’t worry too much about trying to interpret them or work out what them mean. However, if the poem sparks any memories of your own, do jot them down.

I Come From

I come from shepherd’s pie and Sunday roast
Jerk chicken and stuffed vine leaves
I come from travelling through my taste buds but loving where I live

I come from a home that some would call broken
I come from D.I.Y. that never got done
I come from waiting by the phone for him to call
[…]

Dean Atta

Step two – Choose a structure

One very noticable feature of Dean’s poem is how every line starts with the words ‘I come from…’. This gives the poem a sense of structure, but still leaves Dean with plenty of freedom to explore different ideas.

In this exercise, you’ll create your own poem about your home envirinment, using lines that all start with the same three words. You can build on Dean’s idea, and use ‘I come from…’ Or you can choose three words of your own.

Some suggestions to start you off:

– I come from…

– My home is…

– My younger self…

…or you can choose three words of your own to start each line of your poem.

Step three – Responding to the first verse

In the first verse of his poem, Dean remembers different tastes he experienced while growing up. In his case, the juxtaposition of traditional English foods with cypriot and carribean dishes provides a window into his mixed cultural heritage.

To create the first verse of your poem, pick a sense that provides you with strong memories of your own . You could focus on taste, as Dean does, or you could choose to think about smells, tastes or sounds that invoke strong childhood memories. Then choose some different memories associated with that one sense. Your choices might complement each other – or, like Dean, they may reveal a range of different influences on your life.

Once you’ve picked your memories, you can write them into the first verse of your poem. Take as likes as you like. You don’t have to worry about making them rhyme or scan – but of course, you can if you want to!

Step four – Responding to the second verse

In the second verse of his poem, Dean thinks about some of the ways in which his childhood was less than ideal. This verse initially feels sad – though Dean’s suggestion that ‘some’ people might refer to his home as ‘broken’ suggests that he might not necessarily see it that way.

Can you write a second verse of your poem in response? You could think about ways in which your childhoold was not quite as it might have been – or you could focus on more positive aspects of your childhood.

Don’t forget to start each line of your poem with the three words you picked in step two.

Step five – Responding to subsequent verses

In the previous steps, we’ve been identifiying key features of Dean’s poem, and using them as inspiration to write verses of our own.

Now that you have the idea, read on through Dean’s poem – you’ll find the full version [HERE – ADD LINK]. For each verse, work out what the different lines have in common – and then use them as inspiration to add more verses of our own.

You can work through Dean’s poem verse by verse in this way – or you can just focus on those parts you find the most inspiring. Your finished poem can be as short or as long as you like.