I’ve had a great time this weekend as a poet-in-residence at Bunhill Fields. I’ve met all kinds of people come to explore this wonderful historic site in the centre of London: some who live nearby, others who have travelled from abroad for the Open Garden Squares Weekend; some with an interest in plants, flowers, trees and gardening, others with an interest in Blake, Defoe, and Bunyan, the great and unconventional British writers buried here; some drawn by the long and somewhat macabre history of the nonconformist burial ground, others happy to wander around in the present.

All of these people helped give me ideas for the poems I worked on over the weekend. I’ve talked to people about the history of Bunhill and the history of poetry, the death (and life) of poetry, and the purpose of poetry today. People have been interested to hear the drafts, and even to make the suggestions about things I should add! Others have been kind enough to share their impressions of the place, their feelings and ideas about the site, and have allowed me to use these in the poems I’ve been creating here. And a fair few people have come right out and asked me: what are you doing here?

It’s a good question. And I told them that what I’ve been doing is the same as everyone else who comes to explore this garden: looking and listening. Each of the gardens open this weekend is unique, and each has something to offer. In Bunhill Fields, history speaks to us about the present. It says something different to each of us, and sometimes its not clear exactly what it might be saying at all. But each place has stories, and that is what I wanted to discover, explore and share during my time here. The poems I wrote in Bunhill Fields are distillations of the unique things I learned, heard, shared and experienced in this garden.

It’s no surprise that the poem’s I’ve worked on and (mostly) finished over the weekend have reflected a balance that is intrinsic to this hidden oasis of calm in the middle of a frenetic city: between the past and the present, between the extraordinary and the mundane, between life and death.

 

Here’s one of those poems that I started yesterday and managed to finish today, about the many people sharing plots beneath the ground in every corner of the park. You can listen to it here:

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Roomates-poem.mp3

Towards the edge of the afternoon, I read the poems created here to some of the people in the park, and that seemed like a great way to end the weekend and the residency: by sharing the experiences and ideas that had been planted and grown in this entrancing place.

You’ll be able to read some of the poems I worked on during the residency over at the Poetry School website. And if you’ve never been to Bunhill Fields, do pop by if you’re ever nearby to see this small but important piece of our history in the heart of the city.

What if the dead could return, for just one night? An old Chinese folktale says this is exactly what happens – but not quite as we might expect.

This week’s #5MinuteStories is about love, loss, and coming home. You can download the podcast or listen below:

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Rooster.mp3

 

Or you can click through the digital story right here:

Have you ever met anyone who has lived two lives?

Perhaps you’re one of those people, whose life seems split in two. Maybe sometimes you look back and think: I used to be a completely different person.

This week’s #5MinuteStories is about how a single hour can change the course of a life. It’s about human eclosion and transformation, about the people we become, and the myths that undo us.

Listen here, or download the podcast for later.

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Butterfly.mp3

 

Enjoy the digital story below:

Please let me know what you think!

Do you ever get the feeling that there is nothing new in the world? Are we all just doing the same things that have been done many times before?

This week’s #5minutestories is about how our lives echo across history. It’s about origami prayers, Hong Kong moviestars, and warring emperors, but most of all it is about the overlap between the past and the future.

You can download the podcast or listen to the audio version here:

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Cranes.mp3

 

Or read the illustrated digital story below:

Is there anything original left – or has everything already been done before?

Do you have a head for numbers or do they multiply your problems? This week’s story is about ants, stolen skeletons, the numerical beliefs of Hasidic Jews and the mysterious disappearance of the Neanderthals.

This is a story about how we try to make sense of the world with numbers, but how they only seem to lead us round in circles.

As ever, you can download the podcast or listen here:

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Ants.mp3

 

And read the illustrated digital version right here:

Do you have a self-destruct button? Do you ever find yourself thinking: I’m my own worst enemy?

 

This #5MinuteStories is one for Lent: about the things we know we shouldn’t do, but end up doing all the same. It’s about the bad habits we can’t kick, the reckless impulses we can’t quit.

As ever, listen below or download the podcast.

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Dodo.mp3

 

Or read the digital version right here.

We’ve all met people who don’t seem to care about anything else except themselves. But is is possible to care too much?

This week’s #5MinuteStories is about those people who only seem to say what they think you want to hear. We’ve all met one – someone a little too eager to please. And so this story explores whether it’s possible to have too much empathy.

You can listen below or download the podcast here.

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Sheep.mp3

 

Or click-through the illustrated story below.

Have you ever felt like your passions were controlling you? And do owners really grow to resemble their pets?

The third of my #5MinuteStories gatecrashes a wild party thrown by Marlon Brando in his Sixth Avenue apartment, and follows Dante Gabriel Rossetti into Highgate Cemetry to dig up his dead wife.

 

Listen to the story below (or click here to download the podcast).

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Raccoons.mp3

 

Or click through the illustrated version below (on apple tablets you’ll need this app).

Have you ever wondered what might be hiding in the dark? Are there some limits to human knowledge that we can never bridge?

This week’s free story is about how far we might see. It’s also about those strange and majestic creatures that rule the ocean: whales. From the legends of the earliest books, to the use of whale oil in the First World War, to the unexplained appearance of one of these mighty beasts in a field in Yorkshire recently, whales are everywhere.

This is another of my #5MinuteStories (alright, I lied – it’s actually 4 minutes 59 seconds) which is the perfect length for a coffee break, a long queue or a short walk. Once again, the choice is yours: you can listen to the audio versionby clicking below (or subscribe to the podcast).

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Whale.mp3

 

Or you can click-through the illustrated digital story here (apologies for the fact this is hard to do on mobiles or tablets without the free Prezi app – I’m hoping to solve some of these issues soon!)

Welcome to the first of my #5MinuteStories. These are the shortest of short stories to experience on a busy commute, or while stuck in a waiting room. They are the perfect length to be enjoyed on a coffee break, or with a cup of tea (biscuits are optional but certainly recommended). They will entertain you, and always leave you with something to ponder.

This first story is called ‘Parrot’, and it asks a question most of us have wondered at one time or another: if someone says “I love you”, do you have to say it back?

There are two ways to experience these stories. You can click below to start the audio version (or download the podcast to listen to later).

https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Parrot2.mp3 | Open Player in New Window

Or you can enjoy the click-through illustrated story in the Prezi below (or you can download this to your phone, tablet or laptop to take with you, though you may need the free Prezi app to help view this on some phones and tablets).

I will post a new story every Tuesday, all available to download for free (for a limited time). Let me know what you think.