Meeting Notes 2025
Social evening
This was a lively and enjoyable meeting. There was a warm welcome as always and a whole-hearted engagement with the reading of favourite poems. There were 8 MVPs present – 4 online and 4 in person. There were three rounds of readings interspersed with two presentations on aspects of the writing life. Readings included 'Making Peace' by Denise Levertov and 'Let There Be Peace' by Lemn Sissay, 'Snow' and 'Profusion' by Simon Armitage, 'Wind' by Ted Hughes, 'Green Bee-Eater' by Pascale Petit and 'Painting might be better' by Diana Webb as well as 'The Journey of the Magi' by TS Eliot and 'Everyone Sang' by Siegfried Sassoon. There were lines that sank into the soul.
Notes by Helen Overell.
Don't sit down in the first room – Exploring beyond our boundaries. Presented by Richard Lister
In the session on 'Exploring beyond our boundaries' we looked at both the value of boundaries and of travelling beyond them. 'Growth happens when you dare to push boundaries and explore uncharted territory' Shivani on threads.net. We discussed three examples 1) EE Cummings; 2) moving from free verse to a concrete form and 3) moving from free verse to a sonnet form. These conversations provided a springboard for exploratory exercises.
Notes by Richard Lister.
'All nature has a feeling' : a portrait of John Clare. Presented by Sue Lewis
The story of John Clare, who was born in 1793 to poor country people who were almost illiterate, is an extraordinary and moving one. Largely self-taught and self-made, he eventually succeeded in getting his poetry published and was in vogue for a while as The Northampton Peasant Poet. Largely forgotten at his death, he is considered now as one of the finest of the English Romantic nature poets.
He was devastated by the impact of the Enclosures Act on the land he loved and which had inspired much of his beautifully vivid nature poetry. He was eventually committed to the Northampton Lunatic Asylum where he spent the last 23 years of his life. Yet still he wrote his poetry: the session finished with his poignant last poem 'I am', which was written there.
Notes by Sue Lewis.
Haibun workshop: In a Different Light. Presented by Diana Webb
Diana led an interesting and insightful haibun workshop 'In a Different Light'. The title was inspired by views of the Houses of Parliament painted by Monet. A haibun consists of prose and one or more haiku and has a title. The combination of prose and haiku needs to meld together, move the reader and be musical. We read some haibun including work by Salil Chaturvedi and looked at haibun-like poems including work by Colette Bryce. We were invited to write in response to various prompts as well as to works of art by Claude Monet, John Constable and George Frederick Watts. We considered aspects of creativity including thoughts from Hildegard of Bingen and Albert Einstein and the way these can transform the world.
Notes by Helen Overell.
Eavan Boland – Changing the story. Presented by Liz Barton
This was an enlightening introduction to the work of Eavan Boland who searched for the inner authority to write as a woman and spoke of the need to change the past so as to change ourselves. Her poems include concrete domestic details and draw on Greek myth and on the political landscape.
Notes by Helen Overell.
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