Following a short presentation on the Sonnet as a poetic form, this will be a themed Open Meeting.

The Sonnet has been a popular form for many poets from Shakespeare to Jamaican poet Claude McKay of the Harlem renaissance poets.

So bring some of your favourite sonnets or better still, write a sonnet for the occasion.

Or just come and listen and enjoy the poetry.

Trevor Pearce takes us on a poetic journey through the words of some of the poets who have lived, or are living, in the Counties of Somerset or Dorset.

There is a wealth of great poetry here – and this will also be one of our popular ‘audio – visual’ meetings.

A light hearted meeting – Just bring a pencil and enjoy the evening.

Mince pies, music and even some poetry I expect………..

Poems from the 1940s featuring poetry by poets Alun Lewis and John Jarmain
Presented by Juliet Lacey and local author James Crowden.
This evening will focus mainly on the ‘home front’, particularly on the problems of marriage and being a wife in wartime and bringing up children on your own after the war.

The Uncompetition is an evening of poetry written by members on a different theme each year.   This year the theme was ‘Board Games’.   There are no ‘winners’ or prizes but feedback from other members is given to each writer.    Full details in our newsletter to members.

An evening that always produces a fascinating selection of poetry.

An Audio/Visual meeting celebrating the poetry of our railways.
Many poets have been inspired by the subject, so get your ticket and come and hear a selection of the best of Railway Poetry.

Wendy Salter introduces us to Chinese poetry. China has a long history of poetry which deserves a wide audience.
Poems from the Orient are often succinct and apt in ways that ‘Western’ poetry sometimes finds hard to emulate.

This will also be an ‘Open Meeting’ in the second half so do bring an poem to read (particularly if you have one from, or about the Orient).

Bernard Holiday will explore the poem ‘Ash Wednesday’ by T.S.Eliot.  As a poetry group based in East Coker it can seem odd that we do not often feature Eliot’s poetry.   I hope that this meeting will help to redress this and provide an insight into what is considered to be one of Eliot’s most important yet ‘difficult’ poems.

This will be more of a ‘seminar’ type meeting with an opportunity to discuss the poem in the second half of the meeting.