Voices of The Poppies

Bexhill poet Jan Hedger has had her work included in a moving anthology of Forces Poetry.

Voices of the Poppies is a collection of poems which reflect the feelings and experience of a wide range of contributors, from a 1940's Dunkirk veteran to a father who lost his son in Afghanistan.

Jan has not experienced war herself but was drawn to Forces Poetry when she found the website Flow for All.

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"What struck me initially was the quality of the poetry...its truth and honesty. I thought that the poems were very well written."

She submitted her own poems and joined a forum.

"It was then I developed an empathy for the site and what the aims are. I work in health care myself and have strong care and empathy. I can't give money but I can give time, expertise and support."

Jan, who has lived in Wickham Avenue for more than a year, grew up in Birmingham and remembers even as a child she liked creating poetry '“ she won two Blue Peter badges on the strength of her talent - but stopped writing as she grew older.

"I think poetry is a great outlet for imagination rather than just writing a short story. I feel I can play around with the words a lot more with poetry '“ it suits the way I look at things...it gives me more scope. I think you can release more of your emotion through poetry as well.

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"One of the great things about The Voice of The Poppies and Forces Poetry website is the feelings of men currently in Iraq and Afghanistan '“ they can't talk to anybody as such but they can write it all down, then it gets out of their head onto the paper and helps them deal with it. It is what's in their head that they can't deal with now that can lead to lots of problems later. And where writing a story is more about structure, with poetry they can just write how they feel.

"Another thing about this site is they don't worry about punctuation, grammar or spelling...We are not expecting well punctuated poetry '“ it is about how you feel. There are no judgements made.

"I am very proud '“ proud of everything they do and what they are trying to achieve. There are already organisations set up to cope with stress or physical ailments but to get people to express themselves through the written word I just think is marvellous, and that's one of the whole ideas behind poetry."

Jan, of Wickham Avenue, loves writing but also performing her work and plans to do future performances with her partner Nigel Wilkins on piano. She recently gave poetry readings to patients at the Irvine Unite open day, and already has done events for charities and local groups on a volunteer days.

For more information about The Voices of the Poppies or her family poetry book Words In Imagination, call Jan on 01424 212148.

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