Despite the horrible weather, eight of us enjoyed a lovely intimate sharing of poems on Monday night at the King’s Head. We started with up-beat poems from Hilary, Mo and Ama, and a many-layered one from Andrew that taught us, among other things, the origin of a word we now use without a second thought, deadline. It was good to see Paul W again after so long. He gave us a couple of great poems, one a rant about the withdrawal of his local bus service, the other gently placing his young granddaughter in the branches of the family tree. Fiona’s poems were a feast for the inner eye and ear, the two Davids took us on imaginative adventures, Ama read her two poems from New Contexts:6, published a couple of days ago, Hilary vividly evoked Vivienne Westwood, and Mo delivered a cri de coeur for women exploited and killed by men. For those (few) of us who were at the screening of “In an Ideal World I’d not be Murdered” on Saturday evening, this was especially poignant.
Our guest reader on 1 April will be Tristram Fane Saunders, who was the poetry judge for the Wells Litfest competition two years ago and came to our first Fringe Binge. His collection, Before we go any Further, was published by Carcanet last summer. I have read his pamphlet The Rake and found it a delight – playful, skilful, original, dark and fascinating.
Talking of Wells Litfest, I have just had an email about this year’s poetry competition. Entry fee £6. Prizes: 1st £1,000, 2nd £500, 3rd £250, Local £100. Any subject, no more than 35 lines. Judge: Anthony Joseph. There is also a Competition for Young Poets, Short Stories and A Book for Children. All the information can be found here.
You are invited to an afternoon of readings from Bath Writers and Artists on
Saturday 16 March, 2 – 5 pm at Widcombe Social Club, Bath BA2 6AA.
Following a morning of discussion and workshops on the theme of Time, there will be a launch of Linda Saunders’s latest poetry collection, The Tall Golden Minute, as well as a concert of performances on the day’s theme, including music and song, from workshop participants, including Fountain poets Claire Coleman, Mo Kiziewicz and Ama Bolton.
Linda Saunders will read from The Tall Golden Minute, in which mysteries of time and mortality receive the same keen attention as a rare butterfly or a child’s first word.
Poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life. It’s an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that. — Mary Oliver
ways with words in the city of Wells 