Bow Skills workshop: re-imagining city landscapes with poetry and wandering with Jazzy Green
Saturday 5th September 2026 , 11:00am to 1:00pm
Every day we walk our urban city scape with stories and poetry flying past us, unnoticed. How does our culture of productivity and routine thieve our ability to notice and re-imagine everyday ephemera around us? Join poet Jazzy Green for an accessible writing workshop open to anyone with an interest in poetry and movement as creative practice.
To begin, we will meet in the Bow Arts Courtyard then walk to the park behind to do an icebreaker/ movement game to get out of our heads and into our bodies. Jazzy will then lead the group along a pre-planned route, meandering through residential areas, by the canal and through green space to end up in Victoria Park.
Maps and route-making force us to move in determined paths and directions, so this workshop will challenge us to stay present and be led by observations that draw us in along the way. During the walk, we will utilise elements of Dérive, a wandering practice developed by French philosopher Guy Debord and techniques Jazzy uses in their own practice such as Emotional Memory Mapping – the act of marking your emotional state and observations in relation to space.
Each participant will be provided with a printed map encompassing the areas we will wander, along with a pen.
Once we reach Victoria Park, we will have some lunch and share our experiences and observations before crafting a poem using the material gathered. We will look at the importance of specificity in a poem, and how to write orbitally around a central feeling or topic with the images collected from the urban landscape.
There will be an opportunity to share your creations and discussion of how they can transform into more evolved pieces. We welcome all kinds of artists as exercises of observation and imagination can be translated into any artistic discipline beyond the written word.
All we ask you to bring is your own notepad, small enough to carry whilst walking. Maps, pens and snacks will be provided.
In this workshop, you will:
- Learn a technique of urban wandering that encourages presence and observation of our surroundings
- Know how to use Emotional Memory Mapping to track how place (architecture, objects, movement) makes us feel and behave
- Develop an understanding of how navigating space in relation to emotion rather than commercial function develops a surreal, poetic way of writing about place, and the importance of this as capital projects rapidly uproot communities
- Understand how to use poetic techniques such as Cut Out, Freewriting, Collage Poetry and Orbital Writing to produce unique and specific imagery in response to place
This workshop is open to anyone to attend but will particularly resonate with artists who have a profound interest in poetry writing. No previous experience is required – come along and find out!
More about Jazzy Green
Jazzy Green is a poet, performer, lover of natural landscapes and everyday groover. You can find their debut poetry collection ‘Did You See My Eyes Mum’ (2024) from New Words Press. They have performed / produced work for Mad Jack’s Theatre, Roundhouse, Boy Blue’s Project Revolution, Moi Ko collective, at the New York City Poetry Festival, for Queer Poetics Research Collective and at various poetry nights across London and NYC. Their writing and performance focus on grief, attachment, queer love and tangibility. They were part of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective 25-26, and Anthony Anaxagorou’s advanced poetry workshop ‘Close Read’ with Poetry School. They believe real accolades are in our everyday interactions with friends, strangers, and the landscapes we embed in.
About Bow Skills
Bow Arts seeks to support creative professionals at all stages of their careers. In 2015, Bow Arts launched Bow Skills in response to an artist survey which showed over 90% of practicing artists find it useful to receive further support outside formal education.
Bow Skills is a dynamic and relevant programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which is informed by an artist steering group and open to all creative practitioners across London. The programme of talks, panel discussions, new skills labs and peer crits is open to all, with concession rates available to students, over 65s, under 18s, Bow Arts artists and key workers.
Access information
The Bow Arts Trust courtyard have step-free access throughout from street level, including to the accessible toilet, and is service animal friendly. This venue does not have a hearing loop system. Accessible parking is not available on-site.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility at this venue or event, would like to make us aware of any access requirements that you have in advance of visiting, or would like this information in an alternate format including Easy Read, please email nunnery@bowarts.com or call 020 8980 7774 (Ext. 3)
Access requirements could include things like providing equipment, services or support (e.g. information in Easy Read, speech to text software, additional 1:1 support), adjusting workshop timings (e.g. more break times), adjustments to the event space (e.g. making sure you have a seat near the entrance) or anything else you can think of!
Transport Information
Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm
Address: Bow Arts Trust, 183 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Nearest station(s): Bow Road (District and Hammersmith and City lines) is a 6-minute walk away, and Bow Church (DLR) is a 3-minute walk away.
Bus: 205, 25, 425, A8, D8, 108, 276, 488 and 8 all service the surrounding area.
Bike: Bicycle parking is located at Bow Church Station. The nearest Santander Cycles docking station is at Bow Church Station.
