Cecilia Knapp, City Bridge Foundation’s first poet-in-residence, has created a poem inspired by the beauty of London’s community gardens and orchards, and the dedicated volunteers who care for them.
“I knew, during my residency, that I wanted to use poetry to celebrate the amazing environmental organisations that they fund,” she says. “This led me to the work of The Orchard Project and Wenlock Orchard, one of the urban orchards they helped to plant in Hackney. It’s a beautiful, serene and soul-nourishing space that provides habitats for wildlife, delicious fruits and herbs to eat, and a range of gorgeous trees to clean our air!
“As well as this, the orchard brings community together by providing access to nature and through the shared act of caring for this important space. I love the work of The Orchard Project so much, and I learnt a lot from my visit about the need for these spaces. I hope my poem reflects that!”
A Pantoum* for Community Gardens was filmed at Hackney Herbal, a setting that brings Cecilia’s words to life and helped inspire the poem, along with her visit to nearby Wenlock Orchard last autumn.
This poem is part of City Bridge Foundation’s #WordsBuildBridges campaign, celebrating its role as caretaker for five of London’s most iconic bridges, as well as the city’s largest independent charity funder. It is the second in a series of poems written in partnership with The Poetry Society.
*A pantoum is a poem of four-line stanzas, with repetition of certain lines.
Watch the full poem here.
📷 Audrey Damier