This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/10/grenfell-tower-priest-community-anger-grief-poem
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Grenfell Tower priest tells of community's anger and grief in poem | Grenfell Tower priest tells of community's anger and grief in poem |
| (4 months later) | |
| Alan Everett writes of residents ‘forced to watch lights at the windows … until floor by floor the darkness snuffed them out’ | |
| Read Father Alan Everett’s poem in full | |
| Harriet Sherwood | |
| Sun 10 Sep 2017 17.41 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 17.15 GMT | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| The vicar of a church that became a focal point for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire has turned to poetry to express the community’s pain and how the “dead black block” now dominates their lives. | The vicar of a church that became a focal point for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire has turned to poetry to express the community’s pain and how the “dead black block” now dominates their lives. |
| Father Alan Everett of St Clement church, close to the base of the tower, was moved to write after the church became a refuge for people escaping the fire and as a response to the ongoing trauma suffered by the local community. | Father Alan Everett of St Clement church, close to the base of the tower, was moved to write after the church became a refuge for people escaping the fire and as a response to the ongoing trauma suffered by the local community. |
| He said that writing his eight-part poem was a profoundly emotional experience. “There was a strong element of reliving events I’d experienced directly and also things that people told me,” he said in his first newspaper interview since the fire. “It was powerfully loaded, but also a massive relief to write it.” | He said that writing his eight-part poem was a profoundly emotional experience. “There was a strong element of reliving events I’d experienced directly and also things that people told me,” he said in his first newspaper interview since the fire. “It was powerfully loaded, but also a massive relief to write it.” |
| Three months after the fire, survivors still found it difficult to express their unimaginable experiences, he said. “People are struggling with memories, with the things they can’t block out. They are very, very damaged.” | Three months after the fire, survivors still found it difficult to express their unimaginable experiences, he said. “People are struggling with memories, with the things they can’t block out. They are very, very damaged.” |
| Everett’s poem, 14 June 2017, recounts the night of the fire and its aftermath. It tells of local residents “Forced to watch / Lights at the windows / Torches / Of those who were still alive / For the time being / Signalling / Desperate faint hope / Until floor by floor / The darkness snuffed them out.” | Everett’s poem, 14 June 2017, recounts the night of the fire and its aftermath. It tells of local residents “Forced to watch / Lights at the windows / Torches / Of those who were still alive / For the time being / Signalling / Desperate faint hope / Until floor by floor / The darkness snuffed them out.” |
| He describes “The crowded and all too soon / Impassable / Single staircase”, and firefighters “Crawling along beneath the smoke / Reaching up grasping hands guiding survivors out”. Later, the poem tells of the “persistent prophetic warnings” that “fell with a thud on deaf ears” and the continuing work to recover remains from the “dead black block … filled with debris and dust”. | He describes “The crowded and all too soon / Impassable / Single staircase”, and firefighters “Crawling along beneath the smoke / Reaching up grasping hands guiding survivors out”. Later, the poem tells of the “persistent prophetic warnings” that “fell with a thud on deaf ears” and the continuing work to recover remains from the “dead black block … filled with debris and dust”. |
| On the night of the fire, Everett, 59, who has been vicar of St Clement and the nearby St James churches for the past seven years, was woken in the early hours by another priest. The pair went to St Clement at 3am, switched on the lights and opened the doors. | On the night of the fire, Everett, 59, who has been vicar of St Clement and the nearby St James churches for the past seven years, was woken in the early hours by another priest. The pair went to St Clement at 3am, switched on the lights and opened the doors. |
| “Those two actions, that one moment, feels like the core, the heart of my entire ministry as a priest,” he said. Within minutes, evacuated residents and people offering help began to arrive at the church. | “Those two actions, that one moment, feels like the core, the heart of my entire ministry as a priest,” he said. Within minutes, evacuated residents and people offering help began to arrive at the church. |
| In the following hours and days, St Clement and the normally peaceful garden of the adjoining ClementJames community centre resembled a refugee camp, crowded with traumatised survivors, volunteers and mountains of donated items. Everett and his team stepped into the void left by the widely criticised council response to the fire and mediated between distraught and furious residents and officialdom. | In the following hours and days, St Clement and the normally peaceful garden of the adjoining ClementJames community centre resembled a refugee camp, crowded with traumatised survivors, volunteers and mountains of donated items. Everett and his team stepped into the void left by the widely criticised council response to the fire and mediated between distraught and furious residents and officialdom. |
| “We have spent decades working deep within the community, very dedicated, embedded work, which is why we are trusted and why we could respond so effectively,” Everett said. Among those who sought help or volunteered their services were Muslims, who knew they would be welcomed by the ClementJames team. | “We have spent decades working deep within the community, very dedicated, embedded work, which is why we are trusted and why we could respond so effectively,” Everett said. Among those who sought help or volunteered their services were Muslims, who knew they would be welcomed by the ClementJames team. |
| By the end of the week, Everett was anxious to reclaim his church for Sunday mass. Despite negligible help from Kensington and Chelsea council, the ClementJames centre located storage for donated items and removed the equivalent of three articulated lorries full of boxes. “I wanted the church to be right and beautiful, and indeed the mass was wonderful, a service of profound emotion,” he said. | By the end of the week, Everett was anxious to reclaim his church for Sunday mass. Despite negligible help from Kensington and Chelsea council, the ClementJames centre located storage for donated items and removed the equivalent of three articulated lorries full of boxes. “I wanted the church to be right and beautiful, and indeed the mass was wonderful, a service of profound emotion,” he said. |
| His poem describes the scene: “Friends and strangers / Standing so still / For the opening prayer / Listening so intently / To the angry searing sermon / Clergy so rarely preach / Sermons like that / Which is why so many people wrote to me afterwards to say / It almost restored their faith / In Christianity / Almost.” | His poem describes the scene: “Friends and strangers / Standing so still / For the opening prayer / Listening so intently / To the angry searing sermon / Clergy so rarely preach / Sermons like that / Which is why so many people wrote to me afterwards to say / It almost restored their faith / In Christianity / Almost.” |
| Now, three months on, he writes: “We’re small and disconnected and tired / And as powerless as we’ve ever been / And coming together feels almost too raw / And everywhere you look / There are people walking around / In a daze.” | Now, three months on, he writes: “We’re small and disconnected and tired / And as powerless as we’ve ever been / And coming together feels almost too raw / And everywhere you look / There are people walking around / In a daze.” |
| Survivors and residents still feel angry and helpless, Everett said. “The sense of disempowerment is very strong. This is a long haul. It’s going to take a very long time. People have been changed.” | Survivors and residents still feel angry and helpless, Everett said. “The sense of disempowerment is very strong. This is a long haul. It’s going to take a very long time. People have been changed.” |
| They were helped by a “strong sense of connection. People are very gentle and supportive of each other although public meetings can be fraught and angry. Everyone’s story is unique, but the grief is communal.”. | They were helped by a “strong sense of connection. People are very gentle and supportive of each other although public meetings can be fraught and angry. Everyone’s story is unique, but the grief is communal.”. |
| Residents were also struggling with a sense that public attention was moving away from Grenfell, he said. | Residents were also struggling with a sense that public attention was moving away from Grenfell, he said. |
| Everett began writing poetry when studying English at Oxford. It was “complete rubbish”, he said. He gave up for a long period, but resumed about a decade ago. | Everett began writing poetry when studying English at Oxford. It was “complete rubbish”, he said. He gave up for a long period, but resumed about a decade ago. |
| “Poetry is very immediate. I think we’re fortunate to be living in a time when people can write poetry deploying a wide range of approaches, metres, styles. It’s very flexible. And it’s capable of responding to very serious subject matter providing you don’t try to be too literary.” | “Poetry is very immediate. I think we’re fortunate to be living in a time when people can write poetry deploying a wide range of approaches, metres, styles. It’s very flexible. And it’s capable of responding to very serious subject matter providing you don’t try to be too literary.” |
| His poem felt like a Greek chorus, he said. “Enmeshed in the action, helpless, involved, concerned. The chorus figures aren’t protagonists, but deeply implicated in what’s going on. I felt I was tapping into a tragic voice. | His poem felt like a Greek chorus, he said. “Enmeshed in the action, helpless, involved, concerned. The chorus figures aren’t protagonists, but deeply implicated in what’s going on. I felt I was tapping into a tragic voice. |
| “Poetry of this kind attempts to speak the unspeakable, and to help people to imagine the unimaginable.” | “Poetry of this kind attempts to speak the unspeakable, and to help people to imagine the unimaginable.” |
| Grenfell Tower fire | |
| Poetry | |
| Christianity | |
| Religion | |
| London | |
| news | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |