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Our programme this year opened with a talk on haibun given by Diana Webb. Different styles of haibun were read and discussed and the combined effect of prose and haiku was very striking. Here are some examples together with links to haibun websites.
| A Spot on the Stream | Diana Webb |
| Claude Monet- Monochrome (High Tide at Etretat 1868; The Magpie 1869) | Diana Webb |
| Takeaway | Diana Webb |
Contemporary Haibun Online
Haibun Today
For the second meeting of the year, Michael gave a brief biography of Tennyson and then led the group in a reading of Tennyson's poem "Locksley Hall". Excerpts from "In Memoriam" were then studied and an overview of the "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" followed. This led to a lively discussion on Tennyson's work and the style of poetry written in the nineteenth century.
For the third meeting of the year, Rose led a lively discussion on how we see poetry - a shorthand of the heart, a new use of language, a portable altar, images, voice - followed by readings of 21st century poems. Rose concluded that making time for poetry seems to be very important, particularly so in a materialistic, fragmented and technologically-orientated society.
A A Marcoff introduced the idea of Zen as being a heightened awareness of the mystery of things. Zen is meditation and is used as a preparation for the practice of martial arts. In Zen, mind and matter are one which is in contrast with Western thought which sees mind as separate from matter.
According to R H Blyth, Zen "is the active principle of life itself" which resonates with Peter Abbs' description of poetry as "the living breath of integration". Humour is valued in the Zen mind which is ordinary and everyday.
Examples of poetry which illustrate Zen were read and discussed: "The Garden" by Andrew Marvell, "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake, work by Emily Dickinson, John Donne, William Shakespeare, Eric Fromm...
Haiku are good examples of Zen poetry. Extracts from work by both Tim Sampson and Bill Wyatt were read and discussed.Zen poetry is written with "furyu" (wind flow) - a quality of mind at once fully engaged and yet detached. Love and compassion are held in this point of creative tension.
Tony explained that as he had found there was a vast amount of material available on world faiths he had decided to focus on Christianity. He began with a reading of George Herbert's "Love bade me welcome" and moved on to John Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent".
"As Kingfisher's Catch Fire" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, was then read and discussed. This poem stresses the uniqueness of each individual.
"The Journey of the Magi" by T S Eliot highlights the sense of alienation felt by those whose experiences set them apart on their return home.
"Advent" by Patrick Kavanagh speaks of "the luxury of a child's soul" and of the time of fasting enabling a rediscovery of that newness of perspective.
"St Kevin and the Blackbird" by Seamus Heaney tells of love and prayer.
Extracts from the Old Testament's Song of Songs and the Psalms were read followed by poems by John Donne, R S Thomas, John Betjeman, John O'Donohue, Steve Turner and Stewart Henderson.
Diana gave a brief biography of Denise Levertov who was born in 1923 and died in 1997.
Denise Levertov was brought up in Essex, wrote poems from an early age and studied ballet. During the war she worked as a nurse. She met her husband, an American, shortly after the war in Paris where she was nursing. She married and went to live in America in 1948.
Her mother was a Welsh Congregationalist and her Russian father, a Hasidic Jew, converted to Christianity and ordained as an Anglican priest. She moved from a background rooted in Christianity through scepticism to Christian belief.
Denise Levertov read widely and was influenced by the cadences of the American language. She was considered to be both a British and an American poet. She was influenced by Buddhism and by Julian of Norwich. Her writing shows her social, political and spiritual convictions.
Diana then led us in a reading of Denise Levertov's poems beginning with an early poem "The Instant" and a later poem "Merritt Parkway" - both very visual poems with resonant themes. Poems chosen from several collections followed. The images of nature and animals are vivid and intense and full of a sense of light and life. The reading drew to a close with the poem "Enduring Love".
John Lemmon spoke on "The myth of communication". He described the unconscious life of a poem - the thoughts and emotions that are associated with the words. He then played a recording of "I am 25" by Gregory Corso, a beat poet, which was then discussed. This was followed by a close reading of "The Corridor" by Tom Gunn in which the watcher becomes the watched. The surface life of a poem - words, syntax, narrative - can be fairly straightforward but is often of less interest than the psychological pulses which lie beneath. There needs to be a tension between the cerebral and the emotional when writing poetry which can be considered as an interrogation of self - a confrontation with the unconscious. Straightforward language encourages wider readership and yet perhaps in writing for the culture in which we live poetry becomes a ghetto art.
As with anecdotes and jokes, humour in poetry can take many forms. There are cautionary or moral tales, limericks, humorous or fantastical stories or stories told straight with a kick in the last line.
There are old favourites with wide appeal such as "Macavity: the mystery cat" by TS Eliot and "The lion and Albert" by Marriott Edgar.
John began with a reading of "Bad day at the Ark" by Roger McGough in which the humour was light hearted combined with a serious conservation-of-the-species overtone. He followed with "Giving potatoes" by Adrian Mitchell which was again light-hearted. "The Execution" by Alden Nowlan ended on a very dark note. "Colouring In" by Peter Wyton led to a wry comparison of childhoods perhaps fifty years apart. "Breezing Along" by Jim Dalton-Taylor raised questions on identity. "Symposium" by Paul Muldoon introduced a play on proverbs. "Litany" by Billy Collins presented humour in metaphor.