A Sonnet for the Flock: Voice, Community and the Call to Gather
Poetry that’s meant to be heard carries a different kind of charge, and Ali Harwood’s We Bards are Birds arrives with its voice already tuned to the room. Written for performance at Liver Bards – the regular spoken-word gathering Harwood has hosted for over a hundred months in the basement of Ma Boyle’s Alehouse – this English sonnet is rooted in Liverpool’s live poetry culture, where words are tested by breath, timing and audience as much as by the page.
The poem opens with an invitation. Single birds, standing in for poets, are called to gather alongside pigeons and other everyday fliers. It’s a generous image: democratic, urban, and quietly defiant. These are not lofty, solitary singers but creatures who thrive in proximity, finding meaning in shared space and sound. From the first lines, Harwood establishes poetry as a collective act rather than a private one.
The second stanza shifts the focus outward and backward, reaching into deep time. Before writing, before fixed meanings, humans communicated through sound, while the stars traced different patterns overhead. The effect is both humbling and connective, placing contemporary poetry within a long, almost instinctive lineage of vocal expression.
Returning to the present, the poem renews its call. The earlier imperative is echoed, urging a humane attentiveness to others’ “verbal plumage” – their words, their vulnerabilities, their attempts to be heard. It’s a reminder that listening is an ethical act, especially within creative communities.
The closing couplet lands with clarity and warmth: there is no better moment than now to write and to read. In that simple exchange between poet and audience, speaker and listener, We Bards are Birds finds its purpose.
Harwood’s wider practice – as artist, educator and tireless organiser of poetry spaces across the region – feeds directly into this work. The poem feels less like a solitary statement and more like an open hand, extended to anyone willing to gather, speak and listen…
