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.
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.