Run Roger Run- A Docupoetry Delight

I have featured Docupoetry poems in previous posts. They combine primary source material with poetry writing. A number of sources may be accessed to inspire docupoetry. Sources include:

news articles 
letters 
photographs 
diaries, journals 
court transcripts 
medical records 
public records 
non-fiction texts
reports

Poets can therefore access a wide range of documents brimming with poetic potential in the pursuit of such writing. 

When writing docupoetry, the poet may arrange lines or phrases from the source texts to create poems, convey their interpretation of the documents through original poetry, or write poems that fall on somewhere between these various objectives. I find this form of poetry instantly appealing. 

Yesterday in a debriefing session with a group of teacher at a nearby school, I mentioned the subject of docupoetry and they expressed interest and curiosity in this poetry form as an alternative way of conveying information. So, here's another docupoem charting Roger Bannister's breakthrough mile way back in the 1954. 

Run Roger, Run

At Iffley Road

Young Roger Bannister strode

He wasn’t running late for dinner

He wasn’t running to meet someone

Roger hadn’t jumped the gun

Round and round the track ran Roger

With a bold athletic stride

Roger was a man possessed

Such a wild ride – (or more precisely a run)

A fast time would be a sensation

Under four minutes

Would make him the pride of the nation

He finished the mile

In record time

Pushing through the four minute barrier

With boldness, power and beauty

Roger had run for his life

Creating an enduring moment

-Never been done before

Under four minutes what’s more

0.6 shaved off the record

Less than a second

and the honour belonged to Roger

I wonder if he ran home to tell his family?

Alan j Wright

It is Poetry Friday and our host this time is Laura Purdie Salas who shares a post about her new book, 'Oskar's Voyage' and the process of changing the text from prose to rhyming verse.