The artist Walter Kershaw is perhaps best known for the famous Trafford Park Murals at White City, Manchester. This poem is in response to Anna Montgomery’s prompt for Meeting the Bar at dVerse Poets Pub on Thursday 21 February where we’re exploring the ancient and contemporary art of graffiti.
Walter Kershaw Graffiti
http://www.cartanart.com
Latin texts of old Pompeii vie with Banksy of today,
Cool tattoos in 1970′s,
Patterned ends of terraced houses.
Walter Kershaw was proclaimed, ‘Britain’s first graffiti artist.’
A riot of colour, Graffiti! Graffiti!
His reward: butties
And mugs of tea.
A student of fine art at Durham,
With murals commissioned overseas,
Interviews with Russell Harty
And others on radio and TV,
His shocks of guerrilla technicolour, in Lancashire red-brick streets,
Meant he travelled at 5am,
When most of us lurk between sheets.
Off he’d tear on his motorbike,
To the neighbourhoods, to … grapheet.
They queued to ask, ‘Will you do my house next?’
While local councils sent reams of text,
Saying,
‘Cease and desist.’
Nothing was done,
The man was known to everyone.
No charges pursued so none ensued,
All knew his fame, knew his game.
Now much graffiti’s washed away,
Only photographs remain.
Latin texts of old Pompeii
Vie with Banksy of today,
Yet not so long ago we saw
Glorious Graffiti!
From Walter Kershaw.
Polly Robinson © 2013
22/02/2013 at 01:06
A fine poem indeed. I do like those pansies.
Good they didn’t arrest him.
22/02/2013 at 05:30
A bit of good old common sense
22/02/2013 at 02:11
pretty cool…i did not know about him…ha at their protests as well..sadly much of it though is washed away…all that art gone…kinda sad you know….cool bit of history…thanks for the lesson…smiles.
22/02/2013 at 05:32
Strange that Pompeii graffiti remains but this is disappearing ~ different methods different climates I guess.
22/02/2013 at 02:17
I love that painting, wow…the idea of sneaking around in the early hours for your art, that’s dedication… thanks for sharing!
22/02/2013 at 05:35
He did some pretty cool stuff.
22/02/2013 at 02:32
Impressive writing and fascinating topic. I love learning through poetry.
22/02/2013 at 03:19
Yes, color can be dangerous. I have an excellent book by a British artist and professor called Chromophobia by David Batchelor, a fascinating read. I wasn’t familiar with Walter Kershaw, thank you for the excellent introduction!
22/02/2013 at 05:37
Thanks Anna ~ cool prompt ~ good to think I’ve introduced you to someone
22/02/2013 at 03:52
….nice to learn something new today while doing this exercise
22/02/2013 at 05:38
Yes, I like that too
22/02/2013 at 04:51
Love this one, Polly. Street art is my favorite form of expression–it is guerilla inspiration.
22/02/2013 at 05:39
Thanks Susan ~ he’s an interesting artist.
22/02/2013 at 05:15
beautiful painting, nice that people were supportive
22/02/2013 at 05:40
He did get chased away sometimes ~ but yes mostly folk seemed to like what he did.
22/02/2013 at 05:31
Walter Kershaw…haven’t heard about him before but now wanna check him out… he sounds like an awesome artist..love that people wanted their house graffiti’d by him..and nice on the nod to pompeii as well
22/02/2013 at 05:44
heh-heh re Pompeii
he’s an extraordinary artist for sure.
22/02/2013 at 06:09
Nice one Polly. Reminds me of the the company that put up blank billboards and invited graffiti on it. Some of the stuff was amazing!
22/02/2013 at 08:48
So much talent around ~ must say though, Walter had commitment … 5am … wow
22/02/2013 at 09:22
Damn dog wakes me up early!
22/02/2013 at 09:27
T’wirly
22/02/2013 at 11:33
“Grapheet” – interesting you spell that with a “ph”. Good word! Nice to read this one after we were talking about it the other day. I wonder what happened to him? (I will look it up later I expect).
22/02/2013 at 11:39
Y’know, ‘grafeet’ and ‘grafit’ just didn’t look / feel right to me, too feeti and ‘how would you pronounce that – able’ if you see what I mean … also liked the way ‘grapheet’ reminds of graphs / measurement / drawing … I think he’s still around and still painting …
22/02/2013 at 13:02
I didn’t know of him either Polly – you have written fine words of a fine artist.
Anna
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22/02/2013 at 13:04
Thanks Anna, lovely to make new discoveries, glad you enjoyed the poem
22/02/2013 at 22:22
I didn’t know about Walter Kershaw – lived on the wrong side of the Pennines, but his work looks amazing and your poem is a fine tribute.
22/02/2013 at 22:25
Thanks Tony ~ I think his work is amazing too ~ glad you enjoyed the poem.
23/02/2013 at 11:52
You use rhyme very well here – because of varying line lengths it’s quite subtle and yet it’s there in a really lovely way – also I love the quotidian touches and of course your framing with Pompei – the here and here and gone. Well done. k.
23/02/2013 at 12:05
Thanks k – good to see your comments on rhyme and the more mundane aspects of the poem, wouldn’t be complete without the frame of Pompeii, methinks
23/02/2013 at 14:25
That kind of street art is a gift to the community. We have a muralist who works this way in Tucson, too. Ultimately, he became a self-supporting working artist as businesses and organizations hire him to market their events, shops, etc.
http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2013/02/22/it-is-written-vehicles-of-the-word/
23/02/2013 at 14:39
Kershaw is famous for his Manchester murals Kim, so I guess that’s quite similar to your Tucson muralist
24/02/2013 at 07:31
I hope you will send/give him a copy of the poem. No doubt he would be thrilled! As for grapheet, LOVE it!
24/02/2013 at 07:48
Aw … nice idea Lea, I’ll do that ~ thanks for the suggestion
24/02/2013 at 09:07
I’ve never heard of Walter Kershaw, but his art seems really interesting I think I might look some up
And by the way, the word “grapheet” is the work of a genius <3
I've wrote a poem too on the prompt. Care to take a look?
http://oursunshines.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/graffiti-my-heart/
24/02/2013 at 11:35
Liked your poem too Jodette – glad to see you’ll look up Walter Kershaw ~ apparently he only accepts info via post, so I think I’ll send a copy of the poem to him