Poem Talk: from this Thursday
Fancy a guided tour through a world of poetry you never even knew existed? A bit of time travel, space travel, shrinking and growing like Alice in Wonderland? (Kind of) like a trip to Narnia, we get back only 46 minutes to an hour after we left so no one even really notices we’ve been gone, but what adventures! As Emily Dickinson wrote: “There is no frigate like a book / to bear us worlds away.”
It can be yours! And with travelling companions.
Day after tomorrow, this Thursday, the 26th, my weekly poem-reading Zoom workshop begins again. It’s called Poem Talk, because that’s what it’s made of. We read a poem, and we talk.
I choose a poem every week — ranging from ancient poems, to well-known classics that might bear a fresh look, to poems that arrived only the day before, freshly published in a magazine. I’ve even used one poem not yet published; the time travel can go both ways.
This doesn’t require any special knowledge or ‘level’ of knowledge; we simply read a poem, and talk about what we see in it, and how it feels. It never gets dull, and even I have learned new insights into poems I’ve been teaching for years! A close focus. A chance to slow down and focus closely on something. Call it a form of mindfulness, or a form of reading, or a chat, or an education — it’s all these things.
Several attendees have (separately) said it’s their favourite part of the week.
We meet in mini-seasons of six sessions, usually with one week in between; there are three between now and Christmas. Here are the details:
When: Thursdays, 1-145pm (or often 2pm but that’s unofficial)
Where: wherever you are, with a data connection
How much: £45, but contact me if this is an issue for you
Drop me a note HERE if you’d like to join us! I’m looking forward to it.