Backalong by Nia Broomhall

'Ranges from beautifully restrained grief poems to musically rich sonnets' IMTIAZ DHARKER, FOR BLOODAXE BOOKS, PUBLISHER OF THE WINNING PAMPHLET

Selected poem from the winning pamphlet

Nina, who is still here

‘the green fields, neighbours to the churchyard,
were as green as possible’ Dorothy Wordsworth

She needs the greenth of it, green as the
grassy ease of it, the growth of trees; she’s
greedy for these green leaves, these weeds,
she needs the fields, the beetle-breeze, to

see that she is real, that she is here

to see the gleam between the trees

she needs the grief of it, the green repeat of it,
to greet the leaves where she has been; she
needs the deep clean-green of it, the please –

the please, the grass, the ease of it.

How I did it

I’d always been that kid who wanted to be a writer, but I came from a working-class background and just had no idea how to make it happen. I went into teaching instead – I’ve been an English teacher for 23 years and I love it. But in 2019 my lovely grandad – Pop – left me enough money for a creative writing MA.

I work three days a week as head of English in a job-share, and I was almost a year into the MA when Covid hit. It was intense, with online teaching, teacher-assessed GCSEs and hundreds of students needing support. I put the MA on hold and worked full-time for a year. In my second MA cohort I found a fantastic group of writers and learnt so much. I also discovered the wonderful poetry community online.

The pamphlet is two sets of poems interleaved. One is about my sister-inlaw Nina, who died of cancer at the end of March 2023. We were very close, and I couldn’t think about writing for a while, but my MA portfolio was due that September. Writing helped, in the end, and still does. The other poems are a set of sonnets about growing up in rural Somerset. Working on sonnet structure was strangely comforting at that sad time.

After I submitted the pamphlet, I kept working on it – I was sure it wouldn’t win! Three poems didn’t really fit with either theme, so Neil Astley, (Bloodaxe Editor) allowed me to swap them for new ones. I think the collection is much stronger and better defined as a result. I’m so excited – and nervous! – about it.

Now, I combine my teaching job with writing and my poetry residency at Painshill Park in Surrey. I’ve waited a long time to start this career as a poet, so I’m going to run with it.

NIA BROOMHALL is co-head of English at a comprehensive school and has been teaching for 23 years. She is currently Poet in Residence at Painshill Park in Surrey. She plays in a brass band, which makes her happy.

Backalong will be availble to buy on 19 September, direct from Bloodaxe Books and other major outlets.