Hampshire Poet blog - November 2025
- Damian Kelly-Basher
- 16 minutes ago
- 2 min read
During his two year tenure, your new Hampshire Poet - Damian Kelly-Basher - will be writing a series of blog posts for us sharing what he has been up to, telling us his poetic plans for the future, and inviting you to get involved in poetry in Hampshire. Read on to find out what's happening in Damian's world!
Damian's role as Hampshire Poet means that he acts as an advocate for poets and poetry throughout the county - working alongside, and lifting up, other local creatives is something that he truly shines at. His blog for November looks at the power of collaboration.
Pictured below is Damian with BSL poet Ismael Mansoor at Damian's 'Hampshire Poet presents...' event at Winchester Poetry Festival 2025.
A collaboration is a creative process between 2 or more people (musicians, poets, visual artists) where the actions of one influences the work of the other.
Famous writing collaborations often appear in music or musical theatre (e.g. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Beatles, Motown Records) where the music suggests something that a writer puts into words, which might change the original music or inspire more and vice versa.
Collaborations are so interesting because you can produce something completely different from what either of you thought it would be. The writer William Burroughs called this “The third mind of collaboration”; as if another unknown person is on the project with you.
A while back, I collaborated with 3 other poets on a writing project. We each wrote lines about the chosen subject (a sea voyage). Then we met to discuss and decide which lines would work or not. We had very different ideas and styles of writing: so we didn’t know how the poem would turn out when we started. Sometimes when we arranged lines, it gave us new ideas and we’d edit them, or write new ones. We had a lot of conversations (and cake) in cafes and rewriting sessions until we agreed on the final version.
We learned that the most important thing when collaborating is to be honest, open to each other’s ideas and to focus on producing a good quality poem for the audience who hears it.
Damian Kelly-Basher is Hampshire Poet Laureate 2024-26. The appointment of the Hampshire Poet takes place every two years and is jointly led by Winchester Poetry Festival and Hampshire Cultural Trust. The position of Hampshire Poet provides the opportunity for a Hampshire-based poet to undertake commissions, lead workshops and give readings and talks throughout the county, as well as acting as an advocate for poetry and poets.
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