July 2025 Four of us met up this Wednesday, on a cooler afternoon than we have had lately, for our session on “Heat and Hot Places”. As ever, there was a varied selection of the well-known and lesser known. Three of us brought “Snake”, but there were plenty of us to generate discussion and chat. The poems were
- A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky Lewis Carroll
- Summer Rain Hartley Coleridge
- Snake D H Lawrence
- The Sun Mary Oliver
- A Hot Day A S J Tessimond
- Adelstrop Edward Thomas
- Midsummer, Tobago Derek Walcott
- Late Summer Kinoshita Yūji
The theme for August is very exciting "Favourite Poems" or more accurately, "The Poems you love and want to introduce to others". Sadly, I will be away but I hope someone keeps copies for me. I would love to know what is chosen.
June 2025 There were only three of us at the Poetry meeting in The Bookery, on "The Important and the Self-Important". We hope the weather will be cooler next month and health issues are better so that there will be more of us. Still, we had the poem selections from four of us, so there was a varied selection. I think that the Self-important were more represented than the Important. An enjoyable discussion followed each poem. The poems covered were:
- Floral Tribute Simon Armitage
- Edward Lear W H Auden
- Epitaph on a Tyrant W H Auden
- Executive John Betjemen
- Brutus Wilbur D Nesbit
- Jonson Wilbur D Nesbit
- Th’Edge O’ Dark Samuel Hill
- From Father to Son Emyr Humphreys
- Ariadne Curses Theseus Genita Lewes
- The Hon. Nicholas Frayn Roger McGough
- Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Kate Alfred, Lord Tennyson
As we met in the middle of the heatwave, that inspired the them for next month: Hot Places. So, that could be any poem in the desert, the Tropics, Indian Subcontinent, Caribbean, or any animals of such places - and of course, there is always Hell.
May 2025 Five us met at The Bookery to finish off the four Elements with poems on Earth and Air. Both were well represented. As ever, we had an interesting and varied selection and an enjoyable discussion. The poems shared were:
- Ends Meet James Bellerby
- Spell of the Air Elizabeth Bishop
- The Air Plant Harte Crane
- From October Louise Glück
- Snowdrops Louise Glück
- Digging Seamus Heaney
- Into my heart an air .. A E Houseman
- The Poetry of the Earth John Keats
- High Flight John Gillespie Magee
- Mountain Helen Mort
- Murmuration Helen Mort
- Oxygen Helen Mort
- I Pegasus Myra Schneider
- Lifting the Sky Myra Schneider
- Digging Edward Thomas
- Garden Work Jean Whitfield
We agreed that the theme for next month would be “Famous People” or “People who think that they are Famous”, i.e. “The Important and the Self-Important”.
April event. At least two of our usual attendees came down with ailments, principally with backs, colds and coughs, so there were only four of us at The Bookery this Wednesday. However, we were still able to have an indulgent time on our "Indulgence" theme - inspired by the thought of all the Easter eggs we probably won't get. As expected, there were a number of entertainingly humorous poems, along with some a little more serious. The poems we shared were:
- The Health-Food Diner Maya Angelou
- Mrs Midas Carol Ann Duffy
- Four O’Clock Fantasy Yvonne M Fee
- Savoy Truffle George Harrison
- Inviting a Friend to Supper Ben Jonson
- Warning Jenny Joseph
- Carrion Comfort Gerald Manley Hopkins
- Chocolate Cake Michael Rosen
- A Birthday Christina Rossetti
- Easter Eggs Sylvia Spencer
- Feast Edna St Vincent Millay
- Moments Indulgence Rabindranath Tagore
We will be finishing the four “elements” at our next meeting with both Earth and Air. You can choose poems in either category. I hope those who were not well are now feeling better and that we can all get back together in May.
March 2025 6 of us met up in the meeting room of The Bookery last Wednesday afternoon. The theme of “Fire” proved something of a challenge to a few of us but it led to a wonderfully diverse and enjoyable selection of poems. The poems shared were:
- Chrissy Banks Sunlover
- Elizabeth Bishop The Armadillo
- William Blake The Tiger
- Joseph Butler Kindling
- Joseph Butler Forgework
- Joseph Butler Grandfather
- Joseph Butler Smelting
- Lady Celia Congreve The Firewood Poem
- W H Davies All in June
- T S Eliot From Little Gidding
- Robert Frost Fire and Ice
- Louise Glück Sunset
- Louise Glück Burning Leaves (2)
- Robert Louis Stevenson Autumn Fires
- Dylan Thomas A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London
We meet again next month on 14 April when our theme will be “Indulgence”. This started with thinking about chocolate at Easter and expanded into overdoing the things that we enjoy but might not be good for us. We can either go into celebrate the “naughty” things we love, or into the prohibition of them (lots of alcohol and drug related poems and songs here).
Feb 2025 Seven us met to discuss the theme of water. As ever, the poems were very varied both in themes and eras. They ranged from the very serious to bits of fun - it is always good to have that emotional range as well. Another very enjoyable afternoon. We will carry on with the four ‘elements’ next month when the theme will be “Fire”. The poems shared were:
Dover Beach Matthew Arnold
This is a Photograph of Me Margaret Atwood
Rivulet Aphra Benn
The Rain Baron Charles Bowen
Sonnet to the River Otter Samuel Taylor Coleridge
From The Wreck of the Deutschland Gerald Manley
Hopkins Water Philip Larkin
Sea Fever John Masefield
Cool Water Bob Nolan At
Blackwater Pond Mary Oliver
The Sea Mary Oliver
The Swimming Lesson Mary Oliver
Loch(end) Alasdair
Paterson Elements Myra Schneider
From Omeros Chap 9, Part II Derek Walcott
A Ballad of Semmerwater William Watson
Jan 2025 6 Of us met in the meeting room at The Bookery on the theme of London and other cities. There were more poems about London than anywhere else but we did get to travel a little more widely. As ever, we had a wide variety of poems and poets which led to all sorts of interesting conversations and digressions. The poems covered were:
Slough John Betjemen
London William Blake
Rising Damp U A Fanthorpe
In Lodgings: Coram Street Douglas Goldring
District and Circle Seamus Heaney
Greatest London Allan Junior
Whittington Hospital March 1990 Mimi Khalvati
Here Philip Larkin
Sweet Thames Flow Softly Ewan MacColl (with help from Spenser)
Birmingham Louis MacNeice
Flags Lemn Sissay
The City of Dreadful Night James Thompson