As part of Spread the Word’s Lewisham, Borough of Literature campaign, four local writers were commissioned to create new work under the theme, ‘To All The Places I have Read’. The commissions were for writers of poetry or short stories, are aged 18+, currently living in Lewisham and from underrepresented backgrounds.

The Borough of Literature Commissions were printed, alongside Emerging Writer and Deaf and Disabled Writer commissions, in the Deptford Literature Fesitval Anthology.

Musings by Erika Hesketh

A vibrant literary culture isn’t an ornamental

shrub, but you do need somewhere to put it.

Pick a place. A hall, a library… Or a cinema,

say, in what was once a giant Poundland –

gentrification-grey poured floor, crimson sofas,

exposed vents, bookended by coffee and gin.

A place to sit for a while with a slice of cake

under strip lighting and a strange black cat.

You won’t know in advance what will take.

It could be nothing… or it could be this:

the flicker of permission at an open mic

that sets in train a first collection;

a risky routine that sends laughs bursting

through a double round of heavy metal doors;

a mingling place ringed in Minion bunting,

where canons are queried and queered

and discourse flies about, all neon; and sometimes

a community choir filling the shop with song;

school kids forever shoaling in and out,

becoming whoever they want to be;

and silver screeners rapping the knuckles

of their grown-up grandchildren saying,

‘You need to learn your mother tongue.’

It could be that, couldn’t it? And if

you take the place away – the warm seats,

the safe spaces, the wall of tables for one

with free wi-fi for the first-time novelists –

you can bet there’ll be an almighty row

but then what… what about that ornamental

shrub, that ‘nice to have’ which turns out

to be life-giving? It’s all around us,

isn’t it, rustling its multicoloured leaves,

just waiting to flourish in fresh soil?

It doesn’t have to be a cinema.

It could be a dark-brick arts centre

with a community garden out the back.

Or a theatre. Or a carpark. This postcode

is resilient, we’ve seen it all. But we need

somewhere to gather in the dark

and let out a collective grrrowl. So please,

pick a place, keep the doors open

and let this, let us, grow.

About Erica Hesketh

Erica Hesketh is a poet and editor, originally from Japan and Denmark, now based in Forest Hill, south-east London. Widely published in magazines and journals, she placed second in the 2022 Winchester Poetry Prize, and was commended in the 2023 Magma Poetry Competition and the 2023 Stanza Competition. She was longlisted for the 2024 National Poetry Competition. From 2016 to 2024 she was Director of the Poetry Translation Centre. Her debut collection, In the Lily Room, will be published by Nine Arches Press in May 2025.