July 2011

1. Silver - Walter De La Mare. Lorraine

2. When You Are Old - WB Yeats. Claire

3. An Appearance of Success - David Wright. Juliette

Poems On The Underground

4. Nothing To Save - DH Lawrence. Hannah

5. Blackbird - Leslie Saunders. Leona

6. Severn Song - Philip Gross. Steve

7. Fruit Tree - Nick Drake (lyrics). Lloyd

8. Year of The Cat - Al Stewart (lyrics). Lloyd

May 2011

To be put up

April 2011

1. Mrs Faust - Carol Ann Duffy. Juliette

The Worlds Wife WBN Edition

2. My Literary Party - Lorraine Gray. Lorraine

Published in South Wales Echo

3. Skyman - Jane Draycott. Leona

4. The London Underground - Anon. Juliette

5. I Shall Wear Purple - Jenny Joseph. Lorraine

Beauty and the Beast

You can listen here to the poem I read in June:

Beauty and the Beast by Mr Gee

It was recorded for the BBC & made available on a limited edition CD.

Now it is available free to download on Soundcloud

Mr Gee on Soundcloud

Mr Gee on Twitter

June 2011

1. Apologiea - Anon. Claire
2. Beauty and the Beast - Mr. Gee. Juliette
3. Whatever would Robert have said? - Peter Hammil. Lloyd
4. Stop all the clocks - W.H. Auden. Lorraine
5. The False Heart - Hilaire Eelloc. Lorraine
6. How to read poetry (an article from theRadio Times) - Sheila Hancock. Juliette

March 2011

1. Peninsular - Seamus Heaney. Juliette

2. Strange Fruit - Seamus Heaney. Michael

3. The Stone Verdict - Seamus Heaney. Jen

4. Relic of Memory - Seamus Heaney. Phill

5. The Baiter - Seamus Heaney. Leona

6. The Butts - Seamus Heaney. Steve

February 2011

1. Progress - Alan Guiness. Michael

2. Poem of Bliss - Rumi. Monica

3. Hijab Score no. 7 - Anon. Michael.

4. The Last Hello - Les Murrary. Steve

5. The Guest House - Rumi. Michael

6. Two Kings of Intelligence - Anon. Michael

Januray 2011

1. One of St. Agnes - John Keats. Michael

2. To Sleep - John Keats. Michael.

3. A Parental Order - Thomas Hood. Steve

4. Check the meaning - Richard Ashcroft. Juliette (lyrics)

December 2010

1. Love songs in the key of Y - Philip Gross. Michael

2. Ancestors - Anthony Thwaite. Michael

3. Canada - Billy Collins. Juliette

4. Big Muddy Blues - Philip Gross. Michael

November 2010

1. Docker - Seamus Heaney. Michael

2. The Journey - Edward Field. Juliette

3. Scholer 2 - Seamus Dean. Michael

October 2010

1. September 12th, 2001 - X. S. Kennedy. Juliette

2. One World - Anon. Michael

3. Oliver Singing - Anon. Steve

July 2010

1. Skies - Marion Jordan. Juliette

2. Grammar - Sinead Morrisey. Michael

3. The 7th Elegy - Rilke. Leona

4. Pipstrele - Mark Doty. Steve

5. Rushoulter Bay - Claire Fienstein. Juliette

The Bright Field - R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field 

for a while, and gone my way 

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

Postscript - Seamus Heaney

And some time make the time to drive out west

Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,

In September or October, when the wind

And the light are working off each other

So that the ocean on one side is wild

With foam and glitter, and inland among stones

The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit

By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,

Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,

Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads

Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.

Useless to think you'll park and capture it

More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,

A hurry through which known and strange things pass

As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways

And catch the heart off guard and blow it open. 

Breakfast - Jaques Prevert

He put the coffee

In his cup

He put the milk

In the cup of coffee

He put the sugar

In the cup of coffee

He stirred it

With the little spoon

He drank the coffee

And he put the cup down

Without speaking to me

He lit

A cigarette

He blew rings

With the smoke

He put the ash

In the ash-tray

Without speaking to me

Without looking at me

He got up

He put

His hat on

He put his raincoat on

Because it was raining

And he went out

Into the rain

Without a word

Without looking at me

And I put

My head in my hands

And I cried

Incandescent May 2010

1. Jacques Prevert 'Breakfast' Juliette

2. U. A. Fanthorpe 'Rising Damp' Steve

3. R. S. Thomas 'The Bright Field' Hannah

4. Seamus Heaney 'Postscript' Juliette

5. Cecil Day-Lewis 'Walking Away' Steve

Tides - Hugo Williams

The evening advances, then withdraws again

Leaving our cups and books like islands on the floor.

We are drifting you and I,

As far from one another as the young heroes

Of these two novels we have just laid down.

For that is happiness: to wander alone

Surrounded by the same moon, whose tides remind us of

ourselves.

Our distances, and what we leave behind.

The lamp left on, the curtains letting in the light.

These things were promises. No doubt we will come back to them. 

Patience

I know you're busy, so I'll try to keep this short.

A Buddhist monk once said: "The spiritual journey requires a cup of wisdom, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience." This is also true about reading poetry. If you have patience the rest will follow. Guaranteed.

Make no mistake. You cannot read poetry like you read a newspaper. You can't read it like you read a novel. You can't even read it the way you would study technical information. 

William Carlos Williams once called poetry "a machine made out of words." Well, what's a machine for? A machine does something, right? Otherwise it's not a  machine. And a machine is only good if it works.

Some machines need electricity to work. These machines will not do anything unless they're plugged in or their batteries are charged. Other machines need a human operator to turn a crank or to pedal or push.

Poetry needs patience in order to work. Patience is to poetry as electricity is to the vacuum cleaner. But what does poetry do when it works? We know what a vacuum cleaner does. But if poetry is a machine, then what kind of machine is it?

Poetry is an imagination machine. Good poetry, given patience, lights up your imagination in some way. It surprises you, tickles you, gives you a nudge, or even awes you. It might reveal a new perspective, dazzle your mind's eye, or broaden your inner vision. 

Sometimes It Happens - Brian Patten

And sometimes it happens that you are friends and then

You are not friends,

And friendship has passed.

And whole days are lost and among them

A fountain empties itself.

And sometimes it happens that you are loved an d then

You are not loved,

And love is passed.

And whole days are lost and among them

A fountain empties itself into the grass.

And sometimes you want to speak to her and then

You do not want to speak.

Then the opportunity has passed.

Your dreams flare up, they suddenly vanish.

And also it happens that there is nowhere to go and then

There is somewhere to go,

Then you have bypassed. 

And the years flare up and are gone,

Quicker than a minute.

So you have nothing.

You wonder if these things matter and then

As soon as you begin to wonder if these things matter

They cease to matter,

And caring is past.

And a fountain empties itself into the grass.

(NB - Brian Patten said of writing, 'Sometimes it doesn't happen for  a long time, then suddenly a line comes. It's like an underground stream which you tap into with a stick until it runs dry.')

Incandescent April Meeting 2010

1. Sometimes it happens - Brian Patten. Juliette.

2. The Euphamisms - Peter Reading. Mike. 

(taken from Beyond Bedlam, an anthology of poems written in co-ordination with a mental health charity)

3. Little Owl Who Lives In The Orchard - Mary Oliver. Gina.

4. A Scattering - Christopher Reid. Steve.

5. Tides - Hugo Williams. Hannah.

6. Patience - Anon. Juliette. 

(taken from a book on how to read poetry)