'Treasure' Poems at UCS

David (Gill) reading his Sorley MacLean tribute poem about Hallaig on the Hebridean island of Raasay

We had an excellent Open Mic Poetry Evening last night on the theme of 'Treasure', organised by Suffolk Poetry Society. David, pictured above, hosted the event at University Campus Suffolk (UCS) on behalf of UCS Heritage Futures. My poem, written for the occasion, concerned a tiny scrap of woven silk dating from Roman times, on display in Colchester Museum.

Raasay (birthplace of poet Sorley MacLean), looking across to Skye and the Cuillin

Recent Round-up

I am totally behind with poetry news!

So here are are a few things that have happened recently  ...

[1]

The Suffolk Poetry Society (SPS) Desert Island Discs: this was a remarkable evening. Lord Phillips of Sudbury interviewed Terry Waite CBE about his life, Christian faith, captivity, humanitarian work and writing. The evening concluded with SPS member, Tim Gardiner, reading a poem entitled 'The Homeless' written by Terry.

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[2]

The blue painting in the centre is by USA poet and artist Kay Weeks. Kay used my poem and photograph of Loch Scavaig on the Isle of Skye as her inspiration. You can read more about the event here.

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[3]

 

Cadgwith Cove

I was delighted to have a poem about an early Cadgwith lifeboat accepted for The Sea, a poetry anthology published by Rebel Poetry in Ireland, with all profits going to the RNLI. 

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[4]

David and I both had our Corinium poems shortlisted in the first poetry competition organised by the Corinium Museum. You can read about David's poem here.

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[5]

We had a terrific night of poetry last Friday at our first Local Stanza Bonanza, in which a team from Suffolk Poetry Society were joined by a team from the Mosaic poetry group in Essex. The event, sparked by our recent Stanza Bonanza with Paul McGrane of The Poetry Society and Poetry Swindon, took place on the Ipswich Waterfront at University Campus Suffolk. Here are the teams gathering by the Langlands and Bell 'Question?' sculpture. As Ian Griffiths, Chairman of Suffolk Poetry Society and one of the readers, remarked, 'Who better than poets to lay a question on its side?'

Personal Highlights from the 1st Suffolk Poetry Festival

Suffolk Poetry Society Chairman, Ian Griffiths

Huge thanks and congratulations are due to the committee members of the Suffolk Poetry Society for their gargantuan labours in presenting the First Suffolk Poetry Festival at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket last Saturday. Thanks are also due to The Limbourne Trust for their sponsorship. The festival day proved to be an eclectic and inclusive mix of homegrown poetry from Suffolk - and judging by the applause and the enthusiastic conversations, it was a great success.  

Festival Organiser, Colin Whyles

I attended one of the workshops in the morning. It was on the Sonnet, and was led by Suffolk Poetry Society President, James Knox Whittet. James led us through a number of sample Sonnets, proffering tips to follow and pitfalls to avoid, before encouraging us to create a Shakespearean Sonnet of our own. My attempt certainly needs more polish, but I hope a finished poem may emerge from my scribblings once I have had a chance to add some final touches.

Colin Whyles preparing the microphone for the Festival launch of 'so too have the doves gone'

Café Green provided vegetarian snacks and meals all through the day. It was good to have the chance (albeit briefly) to chat with fellow poets and to look at the bookstall over lunch. I treated myself to a copy of Orinsay Poems (Orphean Press 2012) by Mike Bannister on the subject of 'happy times and adventures in and around Orinsay on the Isle of Lewis'. The afternoon was given over to presentations from the Poetry Cafés that are such a feature of the Suffolk poetry scene. Each cafe had been allocated a 30 minute slot, and the offerings ranged from a group Renga to the demonstration of the Sestina form to the presentation of Peter Hood's songs about the east coast.

There were presentations from ...

• Sudbury Café Poets
• University Campus Suffolk (photos here and here)
• Arlington's Poetry Café in Ipswich (represented by Joan Sheridan Smith, Sue Wallace-Shaddad - and yours truly)
• Browsers Poetry Café in Woodbridge
• Poetry Aloud in Bury St Edmunds
• New Words: Fresh Voices from the Seagull Theatre in Pakefield 
• Pinky's Poetry Café in Halesworth, introduced by Mike Bannister. 

In addition to these planned presentations there were also short open mic slots between the scheduled events in the programme. It was good to hear poems from Tim Gardiner (you can read about his insect poems here) and others.

Chairman, Ian Griffiths, representing the Woodbridge Poetry Cafe

Given the rich wildlife of the county, it is not surprising that birds featured in a number of poems. Ian Griffiths narrated a poem that featured not only the imagery of a Robin and a Blackbird, but also included a whole host of other feathered companions. 

Yours truly at the mic!

I planned some days ago to read my poem about the Woolly Bear Caterpillar. You can imagine my amazement when I noticed a British cousin of this species walking across a presenter's hand (Chris Packham's, I seem to remember) on BBC Springwatch from RSPB Minsmere earlier in the week. My poem is published in my 2012 chapbook, The Holy Place, co-authored with John Dotson and published by Peter Thabit Jones of The Seventh Quarry and Stanley H. Barkan of Cross-Cultural Communications in New York.

David Gill, reading his poem and introducing the UCS slot

A University Campus Suffolk slot was included in the reading programme. David read his Edward Thomas tribute poem, 'Gloucestershire in the Negev', alongside excellent poems from two UCS students.

There was just time for a welcome cup of tea and large slice of chocolate cake before the evening session. This began with the launch of so too have the doves gone, an anthology of poems largely from Suffolk and Essex to mark the centenary of the Great War. Judith Wolton led the way. This time it was my turn to read an Edward Thomas tribute poem. This new 2014 anthology was edited by Stephen Boyce and initiated by Pam Job and Judith Wolton. It was published by Jardine Press Ltd.

Florence Cox was next up on the programme and we enjoyed her witty and meticulously observed poems on the foibles of human nature. Florence was followed by 2012 Crabbe Memorial Poetry Competition winner, Caroline Gilfillan who gave a presentation of her Pepys poems. The final performers of the evening were Kate Foley and Luke Wright.  

My thanks to all who made the day such an enjoyable one for so many. May it be the first of many!

• Festival photos and report on WriteOutLoud
• Diss Express announcement
• Festival listing in Mslexia

Poetic People: Caroline Gilfillan on Samuel Pepys

London and St Paul's ... but not quite as Pepys would have known it

I heard a riveting talk and poetry reading at UCS in Ipwich today. The presentation was given by Caroline Gilfillan, who has recently launched her poetry collection, Pepys, a work inspired by the famous diary.

Caroline Gilfillan’s poetry pamphlet, Yes, won the East Anglian Award for poetry in 2010. Caroline won the George Crabbe poetry competition in 2012 and the Jarrold’s Prize for the best poem by a Norfolk writer in 2007. Her poetry and fiction have been published in many magazines, including Mslexia and The London Magazine.

I visited Tate Modern for the first time recently, via the Thames Clipper from Greenwich. I took this view from the gallery, which is a converted power station. Later in the day we walked over the Thames on this bridge to St Paul's. Caroline reminded us just how different everything would have been in Pepys' day, with the devastation of the Great Fire of London ... and surgery without modern anaesthesia!

And for those who would also like to read an account of Pepys in prose, Caroline recommended Samuel Pepys: the Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin.

Do look out for Caroline's poetry collection, published by Hawthorn Press.

STOP PRESS: I have just heard from Caroline, who adds ...

"People can buy Pepys by emailing me directly from here or via my website: www.carolinegilfillan.co.uk where they can also read some of my poems. Thanks!"

Poetic People: Wendy Cope at UCS, Ipswich

Waiting our turn at the book table, with Dr Antonella Castelvedere and Dr Paolo Trimarco ...

Wendy Cope with Dr Paola Trimarco

Wendy Cope with Dr Paola Trimarco and David Gill

Book signing ...

... and conversations.

University Campus Suffolk, view from the Waterfront Building

I have just come in from University Campus Suffolk on the Waterfront in Ipswich, where staff and students in the English subject area were hosting an event with Wendy Cope. The reading was open to all who had applied for a ticket, and it was good to be joined by members of my Gainsborough Community Library Writing Workshop and by friends from the monthly Poetry Cafe at Arlington's.

I have heard Wendy Cope once before - some years ago at the Hay Festival in a massive tent. This afternoon's event was a much more intimate occasion. The reading included a selection of Christmas poems, for example 'Cathedral Carol Service', to launch us into the festive season. I was interested to hear the poet introduce one of her poems with the almost thow-away line, 'It's a Sonnet - I think it's much easier if you know.' We also heard a Pantoum, and talked about Villanelles and Triolets in the post-reading question session.

Wendy Cope explained how she had used words from Alain de Botton as an epigraph, words about the artist Edward Hopper and his landscape of transit and threshold spaces 'in which we are aware of a particular kind of alienated poetry.' I found this very resonant with the themes in Edgelands by Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley, a book I have just finished reading.

Wendy Cope listed A.E. Housman and the Russian, Marina Tsvataeva (through the translations by Elaine Feinstein) among her favourite fellow poets. She drew inspiration from their work, but added that it was too soon for critics to say who had been the major influences on her own output. There was plenty of time at the end for questions about form in poetry, about commissions and various aspects of the writing process. 

Wendy Cope came armed with books, including Family Values (Faber 2011), and there was a steady stream of enthusiastic followers at the book table. Thank you to all concerned for a stimulating afternoon - and to Tom Owens for his photographs of the event, which you will find here. 

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Postscript: Wendy Cope mentioned Valerie Eliot, wife of T.S. Eliot, who has just died ...   

Ipswich Art Scene (1): The 'John Constable' comes to Suffolk

Flatford Mill, painted by Constable (Photo © David Gill)

The Ipswich Waterfront by UCS is soon to be the setting for a renovated 'lighter' that once graced the River Stour in John Constable's day. The boat, part of the 'Managing a Masterpiece' project, will be on public view next Wednesday 29 September 2012. It has fittingly been named the John Constable.  

You might enjoy a Folding Mirror Poem by Dr Marc Latham on Constable's famous Stonehenge painting ... here.

Fiesta Time (13): The Olympic Torch on Ipswich Waterfront

16.20 pm ~ I arrived as the stewards were being briefed ...

... there were a few people sitting outside Theta on the UCS forecourt ...

... the water was full of boats ...

... and flags ...

 ... David was busy tweeting ...

... as a float came past ...

... and then a balloon seller ...

... People arrived from nowhere, and soon the Waterfront was hopping ...

... We finally got a brief glimpse of the Olympic torch as it headed on towards Christchurch Park ...

... 18.45 pm, and somebody was still tweeting away in the sunshine! 

There has been much publicity about Poetry Parnassus, running in tandem this year with the Olympic Games. I will throw a link back to this previous post on poetry and Olympia ... here.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Event Alert (1): Raiders of the Lost Art at UCS with David Gill

Philadelphia, Jan. 2012: David Gill receives his Outstanding Public Service Award

If you live within range of Ipswich, you might care to join us on Wednesday 2 May. As part of the UCS Academy Lecture series, David Gill (my husband) will be discussing his research on collecting antiquities. The evening, entitled 'Raiders of the Lost Art' and hosted by Mark Murphy of BBC Radio Suffolk, will take place at the University Campus Suffolk Waterfront Building in Ipswich, starting at 17.30 with registration and refreshments and closing with a canapé reception from 19.30.

We very much hope you will be able to join us for this event. If you would like to come, it would be appreciated if you would reserve a place: further details can be found here on David's Looting Matters blog and here (with contact email) on the UCS website.

You may also be interested to hear of David's recent appearance in The Independent's 2012 list of '100 People who make Britain a much, much better place' for his work on returning looted antiquities.

Outside the UCS Waterfront Building, Ipswich, venue for the event on 2 May

Creative Corner (1): Simply ... a Question Mark

Photo © David Gill 2011

There has been a buzz of activity on the Waterfront just outside UCS today. A giant question mark sculpture, constructed in two parts by Langlands and Bell, is causing a wave of excitement as it begins to take shape. It has already aroused a measure of curiosity: what does it mean? What does it 'say' in the context of its location by the university campus?

David prepares to take some 'arty' shots of the installation through the window ...

... while I enjoy the view outside on the Waterfront, Ipswich

I decided to mount this photo on its end to show off the complementary question mark, made by the crane ... The sculpture is now 'under wraps'. One could say that it has been mummified, but I prefer to think of it as a chrysalis, awaiting the moment when it unfurls itself to unveil its full glory. 

Question mark on its side, shielded by ticker tape.

Symbiosis: where does the crane end and the sculpture begin?

All under ticker-tape wraps ... as excitement mounts.

The scene on the Waterfront this evening. What will happen next?

Take a look here and here - and here for more views!