We have poetry on our minds all through the month of March as part of our year long celebration of all things books and reading for The National Year of Reading 2026.

Poetry is a fantastic medium to read, write and perform and with World Poetry Day falling on the 21st of March we want to share lots of wonderful poets, their published words and their generously shared thoughts and insight into the value of poetry, how it can work in classrooms and why they love it so much.

Do you have a particular place or time you enjoy composing poetry?

No. I used to write mainly at home, early in the morning, but it was too restrictive. I therefore trained myself to write anytime and anywhere. The last two poems I wrote were composed in my head at 3am whilst lying in bed without a pen or paper! I also write in cafes, libraries, on holiday, in school staff rooms, on public transport and even in the shower!

Can you remember poetry at school? Did it help or hinder your love of poetry?

I got grade A for my Eng Lit A level but regularly argued with our teachers about my class having to study poets from the Victorian era and before. “Why can’t we study poems about things we are interested in, written in the way we speak today?”, was my constant mantra. So the poetry I studied at school showed me how NOT to write and inspired me to look for more engaging alternative accessible approaches such as I use in all my poems.

What’s the biggest misconception about poetry? 

It has to rhyme, you need an IQ of 1000+ (!) to understand it, it has to be about issues of great gravitas.

Why do you love it?

As a performance poet who mainly uses humour in poems, I find it an incredibly entertaining way to engage an audience while getting my message across to them (many of my poems are interactive – or ‘call and response’ as we say in the trade). I also love rhythm and rhyme, although a small % of my poems don’t rhyme.

Poetry is much more enjoyable and satisfying than many children think, what would you say to kids not sure if poetry is for them?

When you were a child I’m sure there were many foods you didn’t like but never tasted. Similarly, 99% of kids, teens and adults who don’t like poetry can’t answer the question I always ask them: ‘Name me a living poet and a poem by a different living poet.’ So I tell them to try it and, like a new flavour of ice cream, they might like it!!

And what would you suggest to teachers who are hesitant to teach it, how might they introduce or attempt a series of fun poetry lessons?

Work with an author/poet such as myself. Poetry is a specialism and, while teachers can teach a massive range of subjects that I can’t, they are not especially trained to teach poetry. Unfortunately, through no fault of their own, they then rely on rather boring standard formats like shape poems, acrostics, haiku or they don’t discourage rhyming. If I had £1 for every bad rhyming poem I saw written in schools, I’d be a millionaire by now! All of these styles are restrictive and don’t allow children to be creative and freely express themselves in a way that free verse can. If you want to know more you’ll need to attend my workshops!

What is the potential of poetry?

It can reach out to any age or ability and can touch any emotion, positive or negative. You can’t say better than that!

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Many thanks to Neal for generously sharing his poetry insight.  You can see more about his popular poetry collections using the links below and find out about having Neal visit your school by clicking here.