The surprise that some people express when we mention aritsts and art on Sheppey is expected I suppose given the perception of Sheppey as the scrag end of Swale by those who do not live there.  The surprise is a more complete when we point out the efforts of the Big Fish Band, the revelation that Sheppey has at least one Arts Society, a writer's group or two, a heritage centre, the Foreshore Project and was host to Moon View. 

Other than that there are many on Sheppey whose talents continue to blossom and grow.

As an Island Artist, that is a member of this 'site',  I am aware of the strong feelings of pride and that sense of belonging most of us have come to enjoy. The creativity on Sheppey is a powerful and interesting as that in the rest of Swale. 

As a writer, poet and artist coming to the island more by chance than design I have become aware of the network of artists and writers in Swale and how they too can link up with artists, writers and poets on Sheppey. 

As an Island Artist I am interested in helping to create those links in whatever way I can.  As a gesture of such interest we have included The Sheppey Arts Society on this site and we are in the process of creating a new site especially for them.  They too are Island Artists and Bob and myself are proud to be a part of them.

The sense that Island Artists, be they writers, poets, painters, crafts, performers or others, have something special to offer is a part of being an Island Artist.  And to all such we say, good luck, keep going and let us know who you are.

I recieved a story from a friend over the internet e-mail system and was touched by its sentiment.  It was the story of an elderly  father and his forty year old son sitting on a bench in their garden.  The father saw a sparrow alight on the lawn and asked the son "What is that?"  The son explained that it was  a sparrow and went back to reading his newspaper.  The father asked again and the son replied that it was a sparrow. The father asked several times and the son became impatient with the old man and eventually spelled the word out to him as if to say 'I have had enough'.
The old man got up from the bench and went into the house. He returned with an old diary and asked the son to read the entry he selected and sat down again on the bench to watch the sparrow.   The son read: "Today my son is three years old and we saw a sparrow on the lawn.  He said: What is that? and I replied: A sparrow.  And I gave him a hug.  Twenty one times he did that and each time I gave him a hug until alt last the sparrow flew away."

The younger man laid the diary down on the seat and folded up his newspaper and hesitatingly moved closer to the old man. Gently he put his arm around the old man's shoulders and at that moment the sparrow flew away.

Now that is what I call a story.

When we are at Artists In The Woods I will tell that story and read the poem I wrote for it. 

Bob and I as Island Artists and Poets were invited to visit the Fulston Manor School in Sittingbourne - a town on the A2 in Kent - where we met the retired poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion.  This unnassuming man entered the room, was introduced and quietly took over.  His voice was soft and quietly moderarted and at first it seemed that when he started erading it would be difficult to hear him.  Wrong! As he began so his voice took over and he took command of the reading and after a few moments we were enthralled.

Too humble perhaps? or am I being a little too reverent?  I think neither becasue I went into the room with very little idea of how he was likely to present himself and hios poems. I found a diffident man who was yet confident of his own ability making no aplogies for his poems or any unnecesary explanation; simply telling the story and then reading the poem.  As a result both Bob and myself were impressed by the man and his verse and realised why he was granted the Poet Laureate position. 

In fact I purchased a copy of his book The Cinder Path, signed of course and will enjoy showing it off to all and sundry.  The little meeting was a relaxed and intersting event with Sir Andrew reading and then answering questions from the floor with a lot of care to what he was saying.  His passion for poetry and the reading and writng of same showed through in his answers and mostly his attention to the encouragement of young people's writing, exposure of poetry on television as awell as radio and of course public performances. 

I salute a great poet.

 Narrative poems tell a a story in verse having the elements of a good short story: that is a beginning, middle and end and on the way there is conflict and resolution that creates a little tension and excitement for the reader who will want to read on. There must also be a resolution involving the main protagonist and a proper conclusion to the story. In addition the narrative poem will do this in a pleasing or easily readable verse form that will suit the mood of the poem. For example; Chaucer's poetic stories use rhyming couplets with significant links and reminders at intervals that carry the tale forward to an often bawdy conclusion.

Most poems tell a story but some are considered to be narrative poems and are recognised as such generally by their length and the focus of their subject. The poems, The Ancient Mariner, The Lady of the Lake and The Lady of Shallot are easily recognised as narrative poems that tell a grand and exciting story. There are many others of like kind that will spring to mind but we all recognise them and often wonder at the skill and dedication of the poet who created them.

Of course these poems are quite 'heavy' and need the reader's attention although The Ancient Mariner is the more reader friendly of the three with The Lady of Shallot following and The Lady of the Lake in last place. A narrative poem race? Ridiculous! And we must look at other narrative poems such as The Owl and the Pussycat, Jabberwocky and my own poem The Turval and the Grobble. These three poems all have the common elements of the narrative poem even if the subject is bizarre.

The Owl and the Pussycat is a classic example of an easy to read poem and tells the story in recognisable verse form that lends itself to song. It is also quite short.

So, getting back to the idea that most poems tell a story how can we apply this to a Haiku and get a recognisable tale? The poem is short so therefore the story will be also short. Let us try a Haiku and try to include nature and season.

My cat pads slowly
seeking cool leafy shelter
from hot Spring sunshine.


And hopefully with the recognised Haiku syllabic form of 5-7-5 in three lines there is a narrative poem.

And the point of all this?

To show that most poems will tell a story which adds depth to a poem and a poet's writing. To try and tell a story in a poem is to discipline your writing to create images for the reader – some will be obviously intended by you as the author – and some will appear to your reader. The key to all this is to do as we are always urged to do and Show not Tell, or in other words make it immediate. For example; I hope that my Haiku creates images for you that will create a story in your mind of what is happening. Tell me about it and also try and create your own narrative poem in whatever form. Above all read the poems mentioned and go from there.

One of the reasons for introducing a Rat into our artistic and poetic society is to create an atmosphere of uncertaintity.  The Rat is a feature on Bob's poems and one of mine and the more we bring Rats into the equation the more interesting they become as a subject.  We have Rats everywhere: the rodents are prolific breeders and yet we rarely see them.  When we do come face to face with them our reaction is often to try and kill them.
Why? Apart from bringing deadly deseases such as the plague (their pets, the fleas, did the dirty on us) spoil good food with their mess, eat eggs destined for our table (Chicken Run) scare the living whatsit out of us when they invade our living spaces, they keep themselves apart from us and are likely to run away from us.  Today we hardly see them.  When did you last see a Rat in your house?

Now, as for the poems - first let us establish one thing ; Rats rarely write poems.  Rats are the subject of stories, appear in stories as the  villians or as a hero (Wind in the Willows)  or in a Terry Pratchet story but not often is it they have poems devoted entirely to them. 

The question is: shall we redress that and put some Rat poems on the site?


I think it is time for us to give Rat Kind a fair crack of the literary whip.

We were introduced to Tanka poems by Bill Anthony and so we tried some out.  The style is not as tight as the Haiku form but uses the Haiku 5 - 7 - 5 syllable format but with the addition of two more lines 7 - 7  making a five line poem.  It is likely that the Tanka preceded the Haiku and we can see the haiku form at the start; the difference being that Tanka can cover all ideas rather than be confined to seasonal themes. 

The form we use is probably more an American adaption than a direct translation from the Japanese form simply because we have translated the idea into syllables to replace what would be Japanese symbols.  Like the Haiku the idea works and makes for some interesting and disciplined poetry.  We have put some on the poetry page and will add more as we go. 

Give them a try. 

Bob and myself are two friends whose interests although not entirely the same have some strong connections.  Bob is  a published poet and a local artist and character well known for his water colors.  He is interested in writing poetry but rarely writes prose.  James, that is me, will write poetry, stories and play scripts and where I will paint with water colors I tend more toward acrylics as opposed to Bob's indulgence in oils. 


Bob has lived on the island all or most of his life whereas I am an immigrant - he is said to have the webbed feet of the swampy (a native Sheppey Islander) and although I do not have the webbed feet we do have one other thing in common - we are both a bit fat.  This comes of being older - the old anno domini - and in Bob's case not being able to exercise so regularly over the last couple of years, and mine general deterioration.

This site is designed to let us have a free reign with our poems and to show off our art. 

Our friends perform with us and we have fun so what will happen is that we will have a page each to show off our ideas.  Feel free to make contact, sign the guestbook and make a link up with us.  In other words, get to know us better.  I like cats, motorcycles and pretty flowers. I like walking, writing workshops and poetry, Zen and Aikido and taking snaps of places. 

Bob likes beer, his girlfriend (Wrong order) poetry, painting and going on visits to places with his girlfriend and painting when he gets there.

We both country music, the place where we live and a good giggle.

Ratman and Bobbin - Island Poets and artists live on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.  We like to perform or read our work in Libraries, pubs, outside venues civil functions or by invitation to selected audiences.  We support the Arts in Swale which means the triangle of Faversham, Sittingbourne and Sheppey.  Right now we are getting ready for a poetry evening in Faversham and intend to run one of our own in the future.  As we build this site and develop our galleries and poetry and stories we invite comments on the blog which will act as a diary of events and whatever comes up.