Showing posts with label Carol Ann Duffy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carol Ann Duffy. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 10

Penketh poetry group!

Today we held our very first  poetry group at Claire's Cake Shop and Cafe in Penketh.


The whole place is very inviting
  ...Cath Kitson and Laura Ashley...
 but with a good old northern twist!
Very relaxing.


Baker par excellence is Claire herself. She has just been opened a few short weeks and already the word has gone around about the deliciousness of her cakes and the super decoration for the specials.
Well I should know, what with "neviepiecake" goodies  as it were "in the family".
So it's such a pleasure to meet there for our very first poetry get together.

At the moment we are just four....
....maybe the "Just Four?".... no that 's a joke and not a very good one!



We had treats to help the whole day go well...
tea in china pots,  poured into china cups,
victoria sponge and lemon drizzle cake....
.......so bang go the good intensions of cutting out cake for a while!

We heard Robert Graves poem..."A Slice of Wedding Cake" read out ...
...very apt as Claire had such a cake half- finished on the servery!

Arthur read some of Grey's Elegy and moved us to tears with his reading and choice.
He is over 90 and brought all of his experience of living into the reading.

I read one of Carol Ann Duffy's poems...
Virgil's Bees
and  this morning I was unexpectantly loaned a book by Kenneth Steven...
...Island Collected Poems...
...soI also read his view of "Bees".
His work is full of Celtic spirituality and west coast Scottish Island tenderness.



With a good tale under our belts about a dead bird
and a grandchild wondering how many came to the funeral?!....
we thought that it could be the theme for our first attempt at writing a poem together.
Lots of laughter...good for the soul....


I finished off with my own poem..."Living in the Now"...
...and a promise to meet once a month to share some more beloved poetry.

Thursday, January 5

A Poem for Thursday. Carol Ann Duffy.





"You know I'd love Carol Ann Duffy's new book.....!"

I say these things in passing.... and the potter remembers!
Wonderful!
So my special present this year was Carol Ann Duffy's new book...
...The Bees...
On the inside leaf of the dust cover is written
"....Duffy's point is clear: the bee symbolizes what we have left of grace in the world, and what is most precious and necessary for us to protect".

They are all so good....but this is one that touches on my homeland.

Poetry

I couldn't see Guinness
and not envisage a nun;
a gun,a finger and a thumb;
midges, blether, scribble, scrum.

A crescent moon, boomerang, smirk,
bone; or full, a shield, a stalker,
a stone. I couldn't see woods
for the name of trees - sycamore, 
yew, birch, beech -

                               or bees
without imagining music scored
on the air - nor pass a nun
without calling to mind a pint of one, stout, 
untouched, on a bar at the Angelus. 



Wednesday, March 30

A Poem for Thursday.



Oh silly me!
Did I think that I could do without poetry ?
Well I can't!

We went to The Tate Liverpool recently.
It was the oldest grand daughter's 15th birthday.
She loves her art!
The exhibition on the 2nd floor is curated by the poet .......
Carol Ann Duffy.
So lots of lovely words end up in paintings and all that.
There's a board with magnetic words on strips, and you are encouraged to put them together however you want.
Fantastic fun!
So here is what we did....
not earth shattering I know ...but brilliant!


Pretty deep I'd say!