ZOOMING WITH THE 1000 MONKEYS IN NOVEMBER 2024

The Day before the Fall in the USA and a Penny for the Guy

We met on November 5th, an autumn day that inspired poems about the end of summer, the falling of leaves, and the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot that failed to destroy the British Parliament in 1605. It was also the evening before the landslide defeat of the Democrats in the USA. Of course this last event was yet to happen, and the poems that the forthcoming election inspired ranged from fearful evocations of a dystopian future to defiant images of Kamala Harris as the taunter and slayer of a raging destructive animal. (As I write this, we know the outcome of the American presidential election, but have still to meet any of the potential consequences for world peace.) Armistice Day was only a week away, too. But here's the detail...

Dónall, starting us off, opted for a memory of 'The End of Summer' when he accidentally brought about the death of a butterfly, and his poem in memory of his sister's death, 'Tiny Clinging Curls'.

Peter Taylor's poem celebrated the moon in all its aspects, including the stormy full moons we've been experiencing this month. Derek Sellen read of his memory of a November tree and in his 'Elegy for a Field' he mourned the loss of local landscape to housing projects. His 'George Mallory's Ice Axe' narrated fascinating history of some of the lost climbers that have emerged from the melting ice on the slopes of Mount Everest, a theme echoed later in Greg Smith's 'Hole', about an Arctic expedition under pewter skies. Greg's poem 'Merde Hill in November' presented a different landscape, a grey tip of scrap metal and tyres.

Daphne Milne took us on a walk round her village in November and also picked up on the Armistice Day theme, with 'I've so much to tell you'. Phil Lawder's poem 'They Didn't Talk' reminded us of the traumas inflicted on foot soldiers in WWI (and on anyone involved in trench warfare) before two lyrical poems about autumn: 'We know a thing or two, the Moon and I' and 'Yorkshire Hills'. Christine Vial's 'The Trees are Burning' painted a picture of autumn colours, and 'Penny for the Guy' evoked the Bonfire Night ritual of her and my own childhood when children wheeled effigies of Guy Fawkes round city streets, collecting money. Tony Watts gave us a set of poems that painted autumn landscapes, and a word picture of Elgar's 'Autumn Concerto'. Peter Wilkinson had 'Dawn Awakening' and 'Early Morning Mist', both about autumn mornings, two poems fresh from his pen on the day.

Clive Donovan read 'Prison Letters' and 'Prison News', two poems from 'Movement of People', his new collection, which he is launching in Totnes on 21st November. This promises to be a very enjoyable occasion and we plan to attend it.

Judith Wozniak read 'The Red Bike' and 'Going to the Dogs', two poems from her collection, 'Making Dolmades in Essex' which is launched online on 27th November and in a face-to-face event at The Torriano Meeting House, 99 Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, London, on 1st December. (Dónall is also reading, as a guest poet, at the Torriano.)

The fears and uncertainties of the next day's presidential election coloured poems by Mantz Yorke and Rod Whitworth. Mantz's 'American Triptych' presented three paintings from French Revolutionary days as metaphors for today's American political dilemmas. His second poem presented the Democratic candidate as a matador dispatching a raging animal in the bullring. Rod's three poems began with 'I am the one with many hands'. His dystopia poem was pessimistic: the Trump-Putin bridge across the Bering Strait had brought decay to Europe. And his Remembrance Day poem, 'November in the Rain' was a sombre picture.

So we woke next day to the reality of the results of the American presidential election. 'Say no more' as some English comedian used to advise...

We press on towards the next meeting of The 100 Monkeys. It will be on Tuesday 3rd December at 7:30. You can apply to us in the week before, beginning on Monday 25th November (by emailing us in response to our newsletter of that date) to read some of your own poems. We're looking forward to hearing from you on any subject — perhaps Christmas will feature, or perhaps you'll find other topics to write good poetry about, to share with a group of friendly listeners... looking forward to hearing from you.     — Janice Dempsey