“I Feel Like Ariadne”: an Interview with Willesden Junction Poet Elizabeth Uter

Elizabeth Uter is an actress, prize-winning poet, and, like me, a member of the Willesden Junction Poets in Residence – a collective formed by Rose Rouse to explore Willesden Junction Station through words and art.

With the support of Brent 2020 Culture, the collective has recently released BeWILDering, a book of nine poems with typic illustrations by Keira Rathbone.

Shortly before BeWILDering’s Zoom launch in November, I caught up with Elizabeth to discuss the poems she wrote for the project and her relationship with the station once nicknamed ‘Bewildering Junction’.

How did you feel about Willesden Junction Station before you started this project?

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the station. On the one hand, it has fascinated me because it’s like a huge, sprawling maze waiting to be explored. When I visit, I feel like Ariadne from the Greek myth of the Minotaur with a ball of wool winding my way in and out of the heart of this vast puzzle of platforms and walkways – to ensure I didn’t become lost – little by little areas opening up, finding new things to explore, the flora, the fauna, pathways and stairs ultimately leading to various London destinations – the original purpose of the trip. I’ve always been aware of its quirkiness, too, discovering a plum tree by the tracks, the memory staying with me even to this day. On the other hand, in all the 20 years I’ve lived in this area, I’ve never once used the Harrow Road entrance to travel to a destination, always the Station Road/Approach. Working on this project is the first time I’ve used the entrance. It has a derelict, spooky atmosphere both in the day and night-time. It’s a lonely, unwelcoming path for a woman walking alone, poorly lit particularly when winter arrives – as if it’s readying for an attack. I’d feel vulnerable first walking alone, then, having to labour up the steep stairway, marking the end of the ordeal – it does seem to go on forever, no thanks.

Elizabeth performing her poem How Many Feet? at the Station Roach / Approach. Filmmaker: Marlon Rouse Taveres

Did the project inspire you to write any nature or ecopoems?

Yes, I wrote two poems connected with nature: Plum Tree At The Junction which is about the grit and stoicism of a fruiting plum tree I saw beside the rail tracks; it was bearing ‘dusty’ fruit, surviving in what might seem to be a bit of an industrial wasteland. Thriving, and blooming even two years later on. I first caught sight of it in 2018, when I was sitting in a carriage bound for Clapham. I was full of wonder at its ability to survive the blast of countless trains. After joining the project, I really made the effort to search for it, find it and was inspired to create the poem. My hunt for the tree earned me the nickname, ‘Miss Plum’, ha!

My second poem ‘Wildflower Salute’ is on a similar theme. At first, I was truly amazed that such gorgeous wildflowers were flourishing at the station. Wandering the grounds this summer with the sun highlighting the abundance, the beautiful array of colour was a revelation. In my mind, the flowers were like tiny people discussing their lives, their ability to survive despite the odds. This observation led to the idea of a single wildflower conversing with me – every passerby – whether human, cat, or bird, excitedly sharing its experiences. Later, I learnt that Willesden Junction Station (London Underground) has a robust eco policy protecting as much of the natural environment as possible. There are so many healthy, wildlife-rich areas to be found within the station, it seems the conservation effort to save locally, regionally and nationally important species and habitats along and within its network has succeeded, also, making nature more accessible for Londoners, especially this group of poets, spoilt for choice, to create our diverse eco and nature poems.

You visited the station with the botanist John Wells. Did that experience affect your perception of the station?

Definitely, it was a gloriously hot day, sun bearing down on bristling, flowering plants, the myriad flora in all its glory was dazzling. John was such a font of knowledge, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn the names of every plant we passed and when asked, he was quick to offer a litany of strange sounding names: doves-foot cranes-bill, stinking Bob – herb Robert, bristly oxtongue, false oat-grass, pappus – creeping thistles, Chamaenerion angustifolium – fireweed, field horsetail, hollyhocks, Michaelmas daisies, mugwort, sweet pea, buddleia and incredibly tasty looking Rubus fruticosus or blackberries, we learnt there were 320 plus micro species in the UK alone and then there were elderberries, you could almost reach out, pull them to you and eat but for the fence. It was fascinating learning ancient and modern stories about the various types of vegetation and how they’d reached the station. There were so many more delicious sounding names, some I already knew, others unknown that I readily added to my building arsenal of the Junction’s wildlife.

Were there any common themes that emerged from the project?

Yes: appearance versus reality; myth, thematic metaphors depicting the stoicism of nature, survival, perseverance – humanity’s effect on nature; movement/travel/journeys; urban stories/cityscapes with wildlife flourishing at the heart of it – often told in snapshot form and how magical or pedestrian this train station appears on any given day.

The Willesden Junction Poets are Iman Hamid, Ian McLachlan, Nick Moss, Dwight Okeke, Andrea Queens, Rose Rouse (founder), Karen Rydings, Sue Saunders, Elizabeth Uter and artist Keira Rathbone. Follow them on Instagram @WillesdenJunctionPoets Download a copy of BeWILDering and watch the poets performing their poems at and around Willesden Junction Station on the Brent 2020 website. Listen to radio interviews with the collective on K2KRadio, Portobello Radio and Resonance FM.