Canals in verse

Born in Birmingham with Jamaican heritage and brought up in Wolverhampton, Canal Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane spent his youth at the heart of the UK canal system. time of the Covid lockdowns he was living in Tipton, which further consolidated his connection to the waterways of the Black Country. The canals were, he claims, his “saving grace” and key to maintaining both his physical health and mental well-being. 

It was then that the waterways began to seep their way into his work, his poetry drawing on the sights and sounds of their environments. In particular, this time ignited his love of a familiar denizen of the canals: the heron. “They’re like survivors from ancient times. I love them.” 

Nevertheless, Roy maintains it was a shock to receive the call asking if he would become the next Canal Poet Laureate, a position jointly appointed by the Canal & River Trust and the Poetry Society and previously held by boaters such as Jo Bell. He initially thought his lack of experience would rule him out: “I haven’t got a boat, so I was surprised they asked me.” However, his existing portfolio of waterways-inspired poetry secured him the role, and he began his tenure by penning ‘These Are Our Waters’ in celebration of CRT’s 10th anniversary.

Journeys and communities 

One of Roy’s first projects was to capture the canals at each of the solstices and equinoxes of the year, points he described as “magical, zero kind of moments”. At each of these seasonal times, he walked a different stretch of canal, documenting his journeys. He began in winter on the Coseley-to-Tipton section of the BCN, took in King’s Cross to Camden on the Regent’s Canal at the spring equinox, moved back onto the BCN at Smethwick during the summer, and ended back in the Black Country in autumn at Oldbury. A set of four poems linked the history and building of the canals with the communities which surround them today. 

The continuity between past and present, and how lives intertwine with the canals have been strong themes in Roy’s work. He was previously a youth and community worker and has held positions such as Birmingham Poet Laureate, Starbucks Poet in Residence and the Birmingham & Midland Institute’s Poet in Residence, roles that were heavily based around recording people’s experiences and bringing them together. “I’ve spent my lifetime with communities, gathering their stories or engaging with people to encourage them to participate.”

He’s also expanded his appreciation for the history of the canals, and their place within the wider context of the country. “The waterways were the beating heart of the Industrial Revolution,” Roy reflects, and he recognises the vital role of figures such as Brunel and Telford in creating a legacy for the UK. “Some of our canals are older than the USA. And that’s incredible.” However, it’s the stories of those who toiled to dig out the canals, and lived and worked on them, that fascinate Roy the most, as well as the people behind traditional canal art.

This is an extract from the 'On The Cut' section that appears in Waterways World October 2025