Every rhyme has a reason for Norman Warwick and Pam McKee. Their mission is to take poetry to the public, as KEITH RAFFAELLI discovered.

IF 21st century pop idols are as instant as a cup of coffee, troubadours Norman Warwick and Pam McKee belong to a tradition stretching back hundreds of years.

But spreading the word among East Lancashire's image-conscious youngsters doesn't get easier.

Poet and lyricist Norman explained: "I once wrote a piece called Look In The Mirror and at a workshop I was running for 11-year-olds I asked the children to write down what they saw when they looked at themselves

"One little girl simply said, 'Disappointment'."

Her response carried all the impact of a psychological stun-gun. Norman said: "I'm not a social worker and I'm not a trained educator -- I'm a facilitator.

"It stopped me in my tracks.

"It just goes to show what's often bottled up. That's what poetry can do -- enable people to bring out what's hidden."

Normally, though, the job is more upbeat; more sheer fun. And Norman and his working partner Pam, who perform as Just Poets, are currently busy gearing up for National Poetry Day on Thursday when they will be unbottling the latent talents of aspiring writers and performers across the region.

Pam said: "People come to us with interests already set in disparate art forms. By the end of the session -- which can involve songs and short stories as well as poems -- our aim is to create from these people just one audience. We want them to collaborate and get the best out of each other."

Norman and Pam have been a professional partnership for four years. So far they kept their dynamic mix of didactic fun on the road while coping with busy working lives. But now they have reached a stage where they will soon be able to deliver the message full-time.

Norman handles public relations for musicians across the north of England, while Pam works as a manager within the National Health Service. Now in their 50s, they're looking forward to early retirement, and more poetry.

Pam said that when they met she had just started penning her own work in traditional isolation.

"Norman's wife told him that her boss was writing poems and at first he used to read them and send them back with criticisms attached.

"That wasn't the way it sounds -- it was actually very, very helpful. These days though it's more two-way. We have robust debates," she smiled.

"Then we realised that although we had been writing separately, our ideas often fused. There were echoes in each other's work. So we got together professionally."

Norman added: "The whole point of what we do is to make poetry accessible to people who have turned away from it in adult life. Young children naturally love nursery rhymes in the same way they like to draw simple things, but once they grow up something happens and they lose those things. It becomes hard work in their eyes.

"We try to demystify it. For instance, we point out there is poetry everywhere in their everyday lives, like advertising jingles and even some of the chants you hear on a football terrace."

Norman was speaking as he and Pam prepared for a busy schedule ahead. After all, the nation itself is preparing to lapse into verse and needs a bit of guidance. They will stage an All Across the Arts creative writing group on Wednesday, and then fortnightly, at Darwen Library Theatre; on Thursday -- National Poetry Day -- they are performing at primary schools across East Lancashire before attending a Family Poetry Party at Blackburn Art Gallery and Museum; on Sunday, October 27, they will join enviromental artists-in-residence Marjan Wouda and Janet Burns at a Family Open Day in Sunnyhurst Wood, Darwen; on November 1 they will appear with the Reduced Shakespeare Company at Darwen Library Theatre; and at the same venue on November 30 they will offer their own brand of local rhyme to support the Fivepenny Piece.

What do the pair hope their literary odyssey will achieve?

Norman said: "The biggest thrill for us is when you realise you've helped someone who thought writing was beyond them. That's the inspiration."