start
where you stand
on the pavement
outside the shop
by the bus stop

the edge of the park
where the grass
gives way to path
and the path gives way
to whatever happens next

look around
not for something grand
for something small
a sweet packet in a hedge
a child’s chalk line

these are openings
little doors
step through

say a word
any word
let someone else answer it
let the space between you fill
with something unplanned

a poem begins like this
a map begins like this
a community begins like this

walk a bit
notice how the street
shifts under your feet
how the houses lean in
how the sky changes

concrete and clay
everything talks
if you give it a chance

write it down
not neatly not carefully
just enough to catch
the moment before
it slips away

a handful
of syllables
a scrap of thought
a line that might be nothing
or might be everything

pass it on
let someone else add to it
let it grow crooked
let it belong to more
than one person at a time

this is culture
not the big stuff
in the big buildings
the small stuff
that holds us together

start where you stand
say what you see and share it
watch what happens

Paul Conneally
Loughborough
January 20th 2026

‘Start Where You Stand’ is written in response to and as part of ‘Intangible Labour and the New Folkelore’ curated by Dr. Miffy Ryan in The Basement Gallery, Leicester College of Adult Education, Leicester, UK