Next meeting 5 February

Our guest reader on 5th February will be Gram Joel Davies, whose second full length collection Not Enough Rage was published last autumn by V. Press.
“Like a series of controlled explosions” – Bobby Parker
“… leaps and flies through the world with dark exuberance” – Peter Oswald

We’ll be meeting upstairs at the King’s Head in Wells High Street, starting promptly at 7pm. Come early if you’d like to have a meal. I have booked the upstairs room for the first Monday of every month. Put them in your diary now! We may or may not meet at the beginning of November, depending on the dates of Wells Litfest. I’ll keep you posted.

In other news …

Alex Corrin-Tachibana writes:
In case you fancy booking in something creative for those yawny days towards the end of January, The Writing School have invited me back to rerun my Japan-inspired ‘Writing the Gaijin: outside person looking in’ workshop. I had a blast last time connecting with writers of all different stages and aspirations, and it is booking up fast. Thursday 18 January, 10am-2.30pm https://www.eventbrite.com/…/writing-the-gaijin-poetry

Fountain Poet Mo Kiziewicz will be the guest poet at Silver Street Poets in central Bristol on Friday 26 Jan, 12.30-2pm. They are a friendly crowd. Do come if you’re free.

Teignmouth Poetry Festival Competitions, judged by Malika Booker and Graeme Ryan, now open for entries until midnight on 31st January. Full details here: https://www.poetryteignmouth.com/competition-2024.html

Bath Writers and Artists‘ next event is on the theme of Time, at the Widcombe Social Club on Saturday March 16th. For full details contact me, amabolton(at)hotmail(dot)com. There are a few places left for the morning feedback workshop, and all are welcome to attend the afternoon concert, which will include readings and songs. Full day £20, afternoon only £5, buffet lunch (optional) £8.

There is no way to succeed in poetry. There is no way to fail. There is only poetry. Everything else is noise off-stage.  – Joelle Taylor 

Next meeting 4 December

We had a second successful Fringe Binge in late October, welcoming four newcomers including Miranda Moore, winner of the Children’s Book category in the Wells Festival competition. Our guest poet, Alex Corrin-Tachibana, gave a delightfully warm and informal reading of some poems from her 2022 book Sing me Down from the Dark, and some newer ones including a Zuihitsu that was recently placed fourth in the Winchester competition. Her work is notable for its emotional honesty and for the sparks of humour that illuminate it. Graeme Ryan and I gave a short reading of some ‘Angrams’, including some by Annie Fisher who was sadly unable to be with us on the day. As always there was an interesting mix of writing in the open mic sessions.

Our next meeting will be on 4th December, upstairs in the King’s Head in Wells High Street at the usual time of 7pm, but please come early (6pm-ish) if you’d like to join us for supper. The menu is here. Our guest will be Dawn Gorman of the Poetry Place on West Wilts Radio. Her latest pamphlet, The Bird Room, is a very satisfying read. I thoroughly recommend it.

As well as presenting West Wilts Radio’s The Poetry Place, Dawn is poetry editor of Caduceus, is a creative writing mentor and workshop leader, and works with poetry in a variety of therapeutic contexts. She collaborates widely with artists, musicians, film-makers and other writers: her work has been turned into a symphony, film poems and sculptures, and she is currently co-producing the third in a series of collaborative pamphlets between writers and photographers. Her own poetry publications include This Meeting of Tracks (Toadlily Press, 2013) and Aloneness is a Many-Headed Bird (Hedgehog Poetry Press, 2020, with Rosie Jackson), which were both Pushcart Prize-nominated, and Instead Let Us Say (Dempsey & Windle, 2019), which won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Award. Her latest pamphlet, The Bird Room, was published by Hedgehog in July this year.

Martin Malone says of her work: ‘This a sensual, tender-hearted poetry, aglow with its own humanity. There is, throughout, an intensely felt oneness with the natural world, rendered by a true poet in possession of impressive technical gifts.’

The prestigious Troubador International Poetry Competition closes soon, on Sunday Dec 10th.

Fountain poet/storyteller Beth Webb will be doing Christmas music and storytelling in December: ‘Follow, Follow, Follow’ – A creative re-telling of the Christmas story with songs, stories, swords, and spiders!
Bubwith Chapel, Chamberlain Street, Wells,  December 9th at 7.00 pm.
St John’s Church Glastonbury, December 10th 3.00pm 

‘Follow, Follow, Follow’ is a tapestry of folk tale and song, telling the birth of Christ from Mary’s point of view with storyteller Beth Webb and singer-songwriter Fiona Simpson.

The performance weaves folk tales and songs from across the world to fill in some of the gaps in the Christmas story, how did Mary feel when she realised she was pregnant? Who was the baby’s midwife? How do spiders help the family escape from Herod’s soldiers? 

Manchester-based singer-songwriter Fiona Simpson sings wonderful versions of old carols as well as some of her own new songs. The thrilling narratives are woven together and told by Somerset storyteller and author, Beth Webb.

Please note: NOT SUITABLE for children.

Tickets are free, but we’d like to suggest a donation of £10.00 at the door, some of which will go towards raising funds for the two venues. 

Almshouses tickets are available here:
 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/follow-follow-follow-tickets-737886848427

St John’s Church Glastonbury, Dec 10^th tickets here: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1278161556176374/?ref=newsfeed

Poets watch their lines of thought fall apart and are as amazed as anyone to see a poem start to emerge from that wreckage. —  Beau Beausoleil

Posted by Ama Bolton.

Next Meeting 30 October

Our Fringe Poetry Binge is coming up very soon, on Monday October 30th at the earlier time of 6pm, upstairs at the King’s Head in Wells High Street, right after the Wells Litfest prizegiving event at the Cathedral School. Our main attraction will be Alex Corrin-Tachibana, with a side-order of ‘Angrams’ from Annie Fisher, Graeme Ryan and me, Ama Bolton. The Angram is a new literary form invented by Graeme Ryan at this year’s Langport Moot. It’s a fun and frivolous form of word-play and highly habit-forming. Open mic spots available; no need to book in advance.

I met Alex last year at the Tears in the Fence festival. Her reading was spellbinding. Her style is lively and punchy. Her subject is often the messier aspects of relationship. I’m really looking forward to hearing her again. Her debut collection, Sing me Down from the Dark, is published by Salt.

There will be no meeting on the first Monday of November, but read on …

A couple of events in the Wells Litfest may be of interest; both are on Saturday 4th November. At 2pm, Sonnets for Albert by Anthony Joseph, and at 3.45pm, The Waste Land – a Biography of a Poem, by Matthew Hollis.

Poetry is not a luxury – Audre Lorde

Next Meeting 2 October

Our September meeting was wonderfully interactive, with our guest Alyson Hallett introducing ‘Poetry Bingo’ – a game in which we the audience drew lots to decide which poem would be read next. This revealed a surprising number of coincidences and personal connections. There were some particularly moving poems during the open mic section, as well as some that made us laugh aloud. An exciting evening!

Why are mistakes important to discovery? Are rocks and stones alive? What’s the connection between a meteorite and the human heart?
If you would like join the crowd who are funding Alyson’s next book, Impact: Listening to Bodies on Earth, have a look here.

The next meeting will be all open mic, chaired in my absence by David Niven, author of the podcast Bard Window. Usual time (7pm), usual place (upstairs at The King’s Head, Wells High Street). Monday 2nd October. Bring your poems please!

And don’t forget the Fringe Poetry Binge on Monday October 30th at the earlier time of 6pm, right after the Wells Litfest prizegiving event. Our main attraction will be Alex Corrin-Tachibana, with a side-order of ‘Angrams’ from Annie Fisher, Graeme Ryan and me, Ama Bolton. There will be no meeting on the first Monday of November.

A couple of events in the Wells Litfest may be of interest; both are on Saturday 4th November. At 2pm, Sonnets for Albert by Anthony Joseph, and at 3.45pm, The Waste Land – a Biography of a Poem, by Matthew Hollis.

Poetry is like a bird; it ignores all frontiers. Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(Note to self: if you’re not a bird, remember to pack your passport!)

Photo credit: Shetland Webcams