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.

Poetry can often capture the essence of the natural world in a way that a painting cannot.   The sounds, the movement even the smells of scene can be best drawn in words………

This will be one of our popular Audio-visual meetings.   More details in our newsletter

Or just come and listen………

To celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2024, this will be a special ‘Desert Island Poems’ meeting.

Our very first meeting was ‘Desert Island Poems’ and so it is fitting to mark this milestone with the very same format Sue McKerracher launched our poetry group with in May 2004.

Actor Denis Lill is a New Zealander by birth, and is well known for his television parts in ‘The Royal’ and ‘Only Fools and Horses’ as well as many other film and TV roles.

This should be a lively and fascinating insight into the world of stage and television drama interspersed with the poetry that has caught his attention in a long acting career.

In The Village Cafe, East Coker    7.30pm

Dawn Gorman is poetry editor of Caduceus magazine, presents West Wilts Radio’s The Poetry Place, and works with poetry as a mentor, workshop leader and in therapeutic contexts.
Dawn is widely published in journals and anthologies, including the prize-winning Aloneness is a Many-Headed Bird (2020), a ‘conversation in poetry’ with Rosie Jackson and the recent Poems in the Key of Hope, a ‘deconstructed’ anthology featuring poems printed on postcards, illustrated by Japanese artist Numata Kashu (Hedgehog, 2024). www.dawngorman.co.uk

Rosie Jackson is a poet and creative writing tutor living in Teignmouth, Devon.
Her latest collection is Love Leans over the Table (Two Rivers Press, 2023).
Widely published, Rosie has won many awards, including Commended in the National Poetry Competition 2023 (out of 17,800 entries.   Other works include  Aloneness is a Many-headed Bird (with Dawn Gorman, 2020), Two Girls and a Beehive: Poems about Stanley Spencer and Hilda Carline (with Graham Burchell, 2020).
www.rosiejackson.org.uk

In The Village Cafe 7.30pm

Chris Salberg will take us on a poetic journey through the work of this West Country poet.

His poetry reflects his character and life as a schoolmaster in Launceston in Cornwall.

At the Village Café,   7.30pm

Bring some poems to read on any subject, either your own or by other poets   Poems might be well known, humorous, topical or whatever you feel will interest the group.

For a change, there will also be a poem to ‘discuss’ and look into in a bit more depth.

These evenings are always interesting and often produce poetic surprises.

At the Village Café,   7.30pm

“A Poet and a one man Band”  is how Paul Simon describes himself.

Heather Murphy with June, Joyce and Jill are presenting an evening of this prolific poet and song writer’s work.

At the Village Café,   7.30pm

Will there be both mince pies and poetic mince pies? Even accordion music?

The Christmas meeting is always a more informal meeting where anything may happen.

Come and relax and enjoy the evening and read a Christmas poem if you wish……

At the Village Café,   7.30pm

An Audio-visual presentation by Gini Astley.

During lockdown Gini and her twin sister Alison, a conservation architect, visited many local churches and although not able to enter, found inspiration in their porches.   Gini’s poems and Alison’s drawings have been put together to make a unique record of these visits.

At the Village Café,   7.30pm