"The Wound in Time", an original poem written by the Poet Laurette Carol Ann Duffy, and read by 24 members of Sunderland's community, young and old.
Jay was commissioned by Sunderland Culture, in partnership with 14-18-NOW, to produce this mixture of North East voices reading the poem, which was played on headphones at the Pages of the Sea event, at Roker Beach in Sunderland, on 11/11/2018, making 100 years to the day since the end of the First World War.
Featuring the voices of; Sue Boyd, Jack Breedon, Jordan Carling, Ryan Dickson, Gordon Donkin, Helena Donkin, Daniel Dryden, Len Gibson, Michelle Hudson, Susan Kerton, Samiya Khan, Holly Kneller, Stephen Marr, Monica Murphy, Thomas Potts, Eileen Robinson, Angela Salkeld, Ann Smith, Cassie Stevenson, Daria Sudomir, Dalia Toader, Dawn Turner and Kati Whiteoak.
With thanks to Theatre Space North East's Director Corinne Kilvington for her expert vocal coaching with some of the contributors.
Sunderland Culture's 'Pages of the Sea' was shortlisted for 'Best Event: Sunderland' in the Culture Awards 2019.
The Wound in Time by Carol Ann Duffy
It is the wound in time. The century's tides,
Chanting their bitter psalms, cannot heal it.
Not the war to end all wars; death’s birthing place; the earth
Nursing its ticking metal eggs, hatching
new carnage. But how could you know, brave
as belief as you boarded the boats, singing?
The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air.
Poetry gargling its own blood. We sense it was love
you gave your world for; the town squares silent,
awaiting their cenotaphs. What happened next?
War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.
History might as well be water, chastising this shore;
for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice.
Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea.