I have been absolutely delighted to be part of the 30-year celebration of the Thames Footpath, as its writer in residence creating a trail of 30 short poems along the river’s route. And the great pleasure and privilege of this project has been the many and varied conversations I have had with the people who use the river…
From walkers and rowers, to lock keepers and other river workers; from old and young to occasional and committed… in all cases, I found the river meant so much to them, and that was what I was hoping to conjure up in the word trail I created.
Walking the river and…
Celebrating the Path, the first group I spoke to was naturally the walkers. I joined many of them on the Thames Path relay, which went from source to sea. I reflected with them on its natural beauty, on the sense of calm and reflection it evoked – all the trees’ seasons floating in the river. I walked with a group of eco-coaches who have developed a special way of facilitating conversations by simply being close to flowing water. And who were brilliant at listening and looking – many of the images that ended up in my poems came from time spent with them: to listen to heart, gut, the stranger body.
I also learned how the river becomes part of the rhythm of people’s lives. Not just regular walking, but daily running – I run with the river one interviewee insightfully told me. Or up-at-dawn rowing, when you feel a unique closeness to the water, evoked this: oar stroke/then silence/I catch/ the day.
Then the angler who had fished all over the UK, but somehow left the Thames till last, as if he were saving up something special: why did I wait years /for chub, dace, roach, bream?. Occasionally friends told me off – what about the dog walkers? you haven’t included them. So I wrote a poem for them – but that will have to be one for volume 2 of RIVER!
Reflecting on the river
But as well as action, the river inspired reflection. In one of my writing workshops, a participant realized that the two rivers of her childhood represented class difference and some of the choices she had made in her life, another wrote movingly about people and things she had lost, and love – good and bad – frequently flowed with the river’s tides and the words that were left behind on the shore: the river/ knows nothing of having/ and holding.
I was especially keen that I captured what the Thames meant to different communities. I spoke to Afghan refugees who went to the river in central London to play music from their homeland, dance with their siblings and cousins and reflect on where the river and time had brought them. I learned that the Thames is twinned with the Ganges, and ashes are scattered by British Indian families at multiple places along its length – I give her to the rivers of the world. And in a summer of multiple drownings, I heard about the dangers of not knowing how strong a river can be – ‘the river demands respect’ one interviewee told me.
Lastly, I was delighted to hear from the next generation of river users. The learning team at the River and Rowing Museum ran workshops for primary school children, asking them on my behalf what had surprised them most about the river at Henley. The responses were fresh, surprising and occasionally funny: they’d learned that people live and work on the river, that there are fish ladders there, that ducks can swim fast and that we affect the river and the future it will have.
Get involved
To complete the project, I’ll be writing a community poem at its finale, capturing in one place what this river means to everyone in their own words. If you’d like to be part of this, simply send me a short phrase or three words that evoke what the River Thames is for you (robertseatter@hotmail.com).
And the trail poems are available in a hand-printed publication, RIVER, created in partnership with visual artist Jessica Palmer, and published in June 2026 by Paekakariki Press (price £15). Available from robertseatter@hotmail.com.
Robert Seatter
Robert Seatter is a poet, broadcaster, historian and performer. He has published nine poetry collections, and frequently creates public poetry projects. For more info see www.robertseatter.co.uk
