Poetry Events ~ RhymeWeld at our Poetry Cafe

'Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie ...' 1785, Robert Burns

We tried something a little different at our monthly Poetry Cafe in Arlington's last night, namely a RhymeWeld (some felt it should be a RhymeMeld).

A reader began by reading the title of a short poem followed by the poem and a moment's pause. The next person in the circle followed suit and so on, allowing the poems to form part of a much larger poem cycle.

The experiment made us realise that it was quite hard to restrain ourselves from jumping in with our usual comments and questions the moment a poem was over. It also made us think that when we try this again, we will go a little more with the flow, inviting any poet in the room to follow on if he or she feels the piece has a connection to what has gone immediately before. Will this make for more or less spontaneity and will this method enhance that feeling of creating something new in a unified way?

The exercise reminded me of starry winter nights in days gone by when our ancestors told tales around the fire. I read my poem The Ceilidh House in the RhymeWeld.

We returned to our normal procedure for the second half, and since Burns' Night will have come and gone by our February gathering, I read my poem called 'The Mouse Replies' in which I imagine what the wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie might have said to the poet.

Poet on Poet: Geraldine Green comes to Ipswich!

About fifteen of us enjoyed a stimulating poetry workshop with Geraldine Green last Friday. The workshop took place at UCS, and was followed by a delicious meal, poetry reading by Geraldine and Open Mic session at Arlington's in Ipswich.

The day of poetry was organised by Ian Griffiths and The Suffolk Poetry Society. I, for one, came away with pages of draft poems and raw material on subjects as diverse as gooseberries and the Caryatids on the Erechtheion in Athens!

Geraldine's relaxed approach gave us the confidence to experiment, and we enjoyed sharing our efforts - and making new friends in the process. I never cease to be amazed (and impressed!) by the care and neat hand writing employed by some poets in their initial phase of drafting. I like to throw in all my ideas as fast as possible, which inevitably leads to much crossing out and illegibility on the paper in front of me. I realised some time ago that A5 is too small for me to use 'comfortably' (or 'productively'?) at this stage. I seem to need the space afforded by A4. This may be partly because I normally draft poems on the computer, often using the delete key and 'strike through' facility etc. in the initial stages. I wonder how others like to work ...

Geraldine read from her various collections, and particularly from The Other Side of the Bridge, published by Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling at Indigo Dreams Publishing. I bought a signed copy, and have enjoyed reading poems we heard like 'Me and Janine' (a compelling British poem about the shipyards at Barrow-in-Furness) and 'Walt' (a brilliant poem set on Long Island, addressed to Walt Whitman).

My thanks to to Geraldine, Ian and the Suffolk Poetry Society!

Incidentally, you will find Geraldine's answers to The Next Big Thing here. Thank you, Geraldine, for enabling me to host these.

Launch Event: 'The Holy Place', Arlington's, Ipswich

We had an enjoyable evening at Arlington's in Ipswich last night at the monthly Poetry Cafe, run by Fred Ellis. The theme was November/Remembrance, and it was not surprising that quite a few of the poems had a military feel. There were also poems crackling with bonfire imagery. A good number of home-grown pieces were read out or performed. Matthew from the Poetry Pulse showed us his seasonal poem in a novel decorated scroll. UCS and the Writing Workshop that takes place on Thursdays at 2pm (plug!) in Gainsborough Community Library were both well represented.

I did a fifteen minute reading from my chapbook, 'The Holy Place', choosing five poems dedicated to special people and places in my life. My selection included a Sestina, a Tercet Ghazal and a Sonnet. My thanks to all who came to support me and to those who bought copies of the chapbook.

'The Holy Place' is co-authored with John Dotson, and published by Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry Press, in conjunction with Stanley H. Barkan from Cross-Cultural Communications in New York.

You can find out more on my website. I have copies of the chapbook for sale at £3.50, inclusive of UK p&p: please click the red contact button here if you would like to buy one or ask a question etc. 

The Poetry Cafe ... an Impression

The Holy Place Chapbook: Ipwich Launch

Chapbook Launch

POETRY CAFE

ARLINGTON's

IPSWICH, SUFFOLK, UK

TUESDAY 6 NOVEMBER

TIME: 7pm

All welcome (small fee)

I will be launching my chapbook, 'The Holy Place', during the evening. 

Please come and join us ... and bring a poem to read on the theme of November/Memories.

*

'The Holy Place' 

by John Dotson (USA) and Caroline Gill (UK)

is the 5th in the Poet to Poet series, 

a commissioned series published by 

The Seventh Quarry Press in Swansea (ed. Peter Thabit Jones)

 in conjunction with Cross-Cultural Communications, New York (ed. Stanley H. Barkan). 

The 3rd chapbook in this commissioned series contains poems

 by Aeronwy Thomas, (daughter of Dylan Thomas) and Maria Mazziotti Gillan (USA).

Fiesta Time (10): IpArt Festival at Arlington's with Heidi Williamson

Heidi Williamson

We had a terrific evening at Arlington's in Ipswich last night at the IpArt PoetryFest. Poet-in-residence, Heidi Williamson, read from her Bloodaxe collection, Electric Shadow. She also shared some new work with us and treated us to a highly polished, enjoyable and informative reading. Thanks are due to the organisers, Fred Ellis of PoetryAnglia and Doug Coombes of Ipswich Community Radio.

Fred Ellis at the microphone ...

David (Gill) reading his poem, 'What did Hadrian Say?' ...

There was plenty of time for poetry chat!

I read my poem, 'Moonshine', about the Snowy Owl that landed in Zennor in Cornwall in 2009. I read this poem for the first time at the Swansea International Poetry Festival in 2011. It has just been published in the current edition of Poetry Cornwall | Barhonyeth Kernow (ed. Les Merton).