Autumn & Winter – November Meeting

Not all poets had an early start – U.A. Fanthorpe and Joseph Pacheco both published in the Autumn and Winter of their lives. 

We will be looking at their poems at our next meeting on Saturday 21st November 11am-1pm in Room A, Bebington Central Library.  Refreshments available, £1 donation welcome to cover costs.

The poems can be accessed and printed by clicking here .

Joseph Pacheco is a 76 year old Nuyorican, retired NYC school superintendent living on Sanibel Island, Florida. He began writing poetry at 70, was featured on NPR Morning Edition, in Latino USA and at the Cornelia Street Cafe with David Amram. He has published two books of poetry: The First of the Nuyoricans/Sailing to Sanibel and Alligator in the Sky.  You can listen to his poem In Memoriam at http://latinousa.kut.org/842/  (not one of the poems in the printout but worth listening to).

U. A. Fanthorpe (1929 – 2009) is known as a sharp, witty poet equally admired by critics and the public. Many felt that in 1999 she should have become the first woman poet laureate, but she was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry in 2003, only the fifth woman in 70 years to win it. She also became a CBE for services to literature in 2001, and in 1994 the first woman in 315 years to be nominated as professor of poetry at Oxford University.  Fanthorpe published nothing until 1978, when she was almost 50. She was head of English at Cheltenham Ladies College when she decided on a radical change of career. Her time as a receptionist in a Bristol neurological hospital inspired her first collection, Side Effects.  (You can hear her reading on The Poetry Archive – see Recorded Poetry, below).

 

Heroes & Heroines

The theme for this year’s National Poetry Day was Heroes & Heroines – pictured left is Jo Bell, co-ordinator of NPD and one of Cheshire’s recent Poet Laureates – you can hear her read at http://www.poetcasting.co.uk/.

So we’ve chosen this theme also for our next meeting on Saturday 24th October 11am-1pm in Room A, Bebington Central Library.  For this meeting, readers are bringing poems which they feel are heroic in some way, or written by people in their circle. 

Words Over The Water hears stories every now and then, in the tea break, of unexpected writing from daughters and fathers, friends near and far. Let’s bring it to the table!

Everyone welcome – refreshments provided.  A donation of £1 is welcomed to cover costs.

 

Get Poems by Email

Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre sends out a weekly poem to your email address – click on the link to sign up now!

 http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/poetry/weeklypoem 

Here’s last week’s:

German Phenomenology Makes Me Want to Strip and Run through North London

 

Page seven – I’ve had enough of Being and Time
and of clothing. Many streakers seek quieter locations
and Marlborough Road’s unreasonably quiet tonight.
If it were winter I’d be intellectual,  but it’s Tuesday
and I’d rather be outside, naked,  than learned –
rather lap the tarmac escarpment of Archway Roundabout
wearing only a rucksack. It might come in useful.
I can’t take any more of Heidegger’s Dasein-diction,
I say as I jettison my slippers.

When I speak of my ambition
it is not to be a Doctor of Letters
or to marry Friedrich Nietzsche, it turns out,
or to think better.
It is to give up this fashion for dressing.
It is to drop my robe on the communal stairs
and open the front door onto the commuter hour,
my neighbour, his Labrador, and say nothing
of what I know or do not know, except what my body announces.

by Heather Phillipson

 

Translated Poetry

  Last year we looked at poetry in translation. I recently came across this article by poet and academic Sheenagh Pugh

http://sheenagh.webs.com/germanclothespegs.htmhtm

and thought it a good opportunity to start a post on this topic. Feel free to add further links via the comments facility.

 

 

News & Pages

We now have a new Events Diary (click on the link on the menu bar above) and a page for readers’ poems (no content yet, but keep checking via the menu above). Next meeting will be on October 24th, a change from our usual third Saturday to the fourth, due to clashes in dates with Wirral Bookfest and Chester Oyez (see Events News). Updates coming soon on the post below on Recorded Poetry. Don’t forget you can comment on any post or page – there may be a delay in your comment appearing while it is moderated.

 

Accounts – in so many words…

Our first meeting of the new season takes place Saturday 19th September 11am – 1pm Room A at Bebington Library, with four poems on the theme of ‘Accounts’ to get us started – thrift, money, tales, weighing up: ‘accounts’ can mean several things….  at least according to Penelope Shuttle, Matthew Hollis, Aileen La Tourette & Mike Barlow.

The poems can be accessed here, and printed out.   

On his poem ‘Choosing The Moment’, Mike Barlow writes: “The poem reflects an aspect of my personality that is more fantasy than reality, the hermit enjoying the idea of solitude. In practice I prefer to share my solitude, so this ambivalence is there in the poem. I don’t think the other person ever appears. It’s more wishful thinking and a comment on the frailty of isolation.”

Everyone welcome, refreshments provided.  A donation of £1 would be appreciated to cover costs.

 

Recorded Poetry

Before this site came into being, Words Over The Water arranged a session listening to recordings of poets reading. 

Most people agreed that listening to the poem being read changed their impression and understanding – mainly for the good, but occasionally not so.  An interesting point raised was how a poem would differ read in different voices.  Now that could be an interesting experiment…

There are many cds available – check Amazon and poets’ own websites – and sites which contain recordings.  Here are some examples – please add more if you wish, using the comments facility:

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do

The Poetry Archive – contemporary and historic recordings; resources for students, teachers and writers;  poetry ‘tours’ by living poets

http://www.youtube.com/?gl=GB&hl=en-GB

It’s amazing how much poetry there is on YouTube!  Billy Collins reading to some amazing animation, CK Williams live at the TED lectures… just tap in ‘Poetry’ or the name of your favourite poet in the ‘Search’ facility and see what comes up.  The picture shows Derek Walcott reading on YouTube.

PoetCasting is a poetry podcasting project which works with poets throughout the United Kingdom. The project features published, performance, emerging and established poets reading their own work online and out loud.

http://www.poetcasting.co.uk/ 

Check out The Writer’s Almanac too:  http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ 

Poetica is an Australian site worth visiting: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/ 

There are lots more – let’s keep adding and make this a useful resource.

Here’s a comment from mh:

“I can’t remember if I mentioned this previously at one of our meetings sometime during the last year. It’s a rap about the Large Hadron Collider – see the link below. Bearing in mind the complexity of the subject, the words are very clever, not without humour and brilliantly illustrated (perhaps cheating just a bit). Rap is often very difficult to follow, but fortunately this one is offered with subtitles.

Despite having enjoyed our meetings, and read many new (to me) poems for the first time, it’s this rap that has made most impression. It’s made me wonder what other members of the group remember most from the year, something that caught their imagination and stays with them still.
 
As far as I’m aware, rap is still a relatively new form of art: a fusion of the spoken word and music, sitting somewhere between the two extremes of poetry and conventional song. The latest Mercury Prize went to a rap artist who used her experience of homelessness for inspiration. Perhaps this fusion is something to watch out for, since the link with music may draw a younger audience to the world of poetry – albeit inadvertently. Remember also that during the year we did spend one meeting looking at the words of some songs by Bob Dylan, John Prine, Leonard Cohen and others. Not quite the same thing, but close.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM“

 

End of ‘Term’ – Poems & Book Sale June 2009

 Our final meeting of the season took place on Saturday 20^th June 11am – 1pm Room A at Bebington Library. 

We read some of our own poems following on from the success and interest of last year’s meeting of a similar nature.  Thanks for original contributions from Fay Eagle, Dave McNeill, Charles Hughes, Malcolm Henry, Lesley Johnson and Janine Pinion, and to Julie Henry for her poems by Afghan women poets, and Maggie Jones for a poem from Fleur Adcock. 

I’m putting up a page where you will be able to add poems – I’ll let everyone know when this happens.

Thanks also to Lesley for suggesting the Book Sale as an addition – occasionally we have had a few books and periodicals to pass on to others, so if you have any such items you could donate, please bring them along – or just bring yourself and plenty of change!  Any money raised will go towards next year’s programme and we can discuss how the money can be used.

We raised a total of £17.50 at the last meeting – excellent – let’s keep it going!

 

May meeting

Our next meeting is on Saturday 16th May 11am – 1pm in Room A, Bebington Central Library.

SYLVIA PLATH

We will be looking more closely at the work of Sylvia Plath, facilitated by Gill McEvoy.  Gill will bring some examples and anyone who wishes may do so too.  There has been interest in Plath’s life and work at previous meetings, so this should be an interesting session.  Thanks to Gill for stepping in and offering to facilitate.

Everyone welcome, refreshments provided.  A donation of £1 would be appreciated to cover costs and refreshments.

NOTE: BBC Poet’s Guide to Britain http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kdr8l this week – Wordsworth, next week – Sylvia Plath

 

April Meeting

Our next meeting will be on Saturday 18^th April 2009 11am – 1pm in Room A at Bebington Central Library.  Everyone welcome, refreshments provided.  A donation of £1 would be appreciated to cover costs.

WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AS POET LAUREATE?

Andrew Motion will shortly be retiring as UK Poet Laureate.  Speculation continues as to who may be next.  Who would you like to see?  Come and join in the debate, bring poems/biography of your favourite (if you wish) and let the election begin!  Below are some online articles to get you started.

From The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/25/poet-laureate-andrew-motion

This is the first time the public has been consulted about the poet laureateship. Although the DCMS has said there would be no official public vote, this appeal does seem to make it more likely that the next laureate will be a more obviously populist choice than Motion.

Malcolm Henry mentioned Saturday’s Guardian /Andrew Motion article at the meeting in March.  In case you didn’t find a copy, it’s all online – plus lots of other related material. Interesting to read about the pros and cons, and why a poet might consider turning the job down!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/21/andrew-motion-poet-laureate1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/21/andrew-motion-poet-laureate

From The Times:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/poetry/article5233078.ece

At the moment, the process by which the Poet Laureate is selected is, like many aspects of the British honours system, secretive for reasons that nobody can remember. Even the reason why it is a secret is a secret.  The Laureate is chosen by the monarch from a list of nominees compiled on behalf of the Prime Minister. After the advisers in Downing Street have pitched in, the Prime Minister makes a recommendation to the Queen. Provided she assents, of course, the Lord Chamberlain then appoints the Poet Laureate by issuing a warrant to the Laureate-elect. The appointment is then, rather quaintly, announced in The London Gazette.

Speculation continues and the following may be possible candidates:

Simon Armitage
FROM HUDDERSFIELD; AGE 45
A Yorkshireman like Ted Hughes, and one on whom Hughes had a great influence. Armitage is already a fine ambassador of poetry, and has recently published a translation of the great Middle English classic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sean O’Brien called him “the first poet of serious artistic intent since Philip Larkin to have achieved popularity”.

Carol Ann Duffy
FROM GLASGOW; AGE 52
Her 1999 book The World’s Wife – monologues from the point of view of the wives of famous men (some fictional, some not) are revealing of her dry, pointed take on the world. Rapture (Picador), published in 2005, was a worthy winner of the T.S. Eliot prize: a painful delineation of the life and death of a relationship. Long spoken of as a contender for the post.

Alice Oswald
FROM DEVON; AGE 42
Oswald is a gardener on the Dartington Estate in Devon, and her work often draws from that landscape in the pastoral tradition of which Ted Hughes was also a part. Her first book, The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile, published in 1996, marked her out as a force to be reckoned with, while her most recent was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize. Named as one of the Poetry Book Society’s “Next Generation” poets in 2004.

Benjamin Zephaniah
FROM BIRMINGHAM; AGE 50
Musician, dub poet and ambassador for the spoken word. His version of the traditional Border ballad Tam Lyn was a highlight of The Imagined Village tour last year. Read his new book, Too Black, Too Strong (Bloodaxe), which addresses the issues facing black Britain – and all of us – in his inimitable style.

Wendy Cope
FROM KENT; AGE 63
This national treasure takes a humorous view of things: she was awarded the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1995. She would be bound to approach the position with some irony: read Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (Faber & Faber) for a good laugh at the high seriousness of the literati.