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Anniversaries, musicians and waterIt's always interesting to see themes emerging and sometimes coalescing among the poets who attend each meeting of the talented Monkeys. This month saw Holocaust Day directly inspiring poems from Christine Vial, Anne Alexander, Richard Carpenter and Aaron Barschak, and two translations by Timothy Adès of poems by Robert Desnos, who died a victim of the Nazi concentration camps. Richard had an account of a lady who escaped a similar fate in Auschwitz. Aaron's poem was as much about Gaza as about the Holocaust — and about the redefinition of words in our century — genocide; gender, women, vaccines — all politically manipulated. Anne 's 'Peace Gardens' called for peace and justice regardless of race or religion. She and Christine had written their poems to be performed at the opening of a memorial garden in Enfield, as members of the Brondesbury Poetry group. Christine's 'Inked' referred to the forcible tattooing of serial numbers on concentration camp inmates. Derek Sellen celebrated Chopin, with 'Music by the Pianist in Old Age' and told us of a little-known aspect of the life of Schrödinger (of the famous 'cat in a box' theory) — the scandal his libertarian love-life caused when he went to teach in Ireland (where he had fled from Austria) and Princeton University in the USA! Water featured in the poems of Jenna Plewes, who had two poems about fishermen and fish, and Ray Pool had three lyrical poems on river events: an account of the sinking of The Marquess of Granby on the Thames reminded us of that tragic event twenty-one years ago; his portrait of a musician friend who lived beside the same river was a happier memory. Mantz Yorke remembered the Morecambe Bay cocklers who were swept to their death in the rising tide, also 21 years ago, and told of precarious living in 'House of Cards'. The coming of Spring inspired some denial in Christine's 'Bulb' ('the price of growing is just too steep') ... but Tony Watts went for an entertaining rural walk with 'Five Poets on a Walk in the Country'. He also made us smile with 'The Anthropologist' as the subjects of an expert study turned the tables on their observer. Evanthe Blandy gave us a sonnet portrait of 'The Market Trader' and a sympathetic hearing of a monologue by a sufferer from dementia. Rod Whitworth's response to Max Ernst's 'The Petrified City' — the phrase 'eugenic hygenics' occurred to him with echoes of the Nazi era in which Ernst developed his paintings and collages. 'An Answer' was his articulate and poetic response to a Chinese poem, 'The Answer'. Marek Urbanowicz read three of his previously published poems with very detailed explanations of their context. Unfortunately, my notes were not detailed enough to report accurately on these! But he has provided a comment (see below) to clarify my previously inaccurate account, for which I must apologise to him. The next readings by The 1000 Monkeys are on Tuesday 4th March. We'll be inviting offers to contribute to that meeting in a mailing on 24th February to the group. Everyone on the 1000 Monkeys mailing list will be sent the link to join on March 2nd.
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The first meeting of The 1000 Monkeys in 2025 came quite late because the first Tuesday fell on the 7th of January. With 12 excellent readers and a good audience of listeners, it was worth waiting for.
Christine Vial started us off with three seasonal poems, most appropriate now that winter has seriously descended on the UK. 'Frosted', first published in Southbank Poetry, was followed by a 'Brief Encounter' under a winter moon, of a 'grieving widow' with a railway level-cross operator who is 'a would-be werewolf' to judged by his hairy hands! 'Fridge' offered 'anti-resolutions' to those who are resolve to carry on enjoying food and drink after Christmas revelry is over! Ray Pool began with a a limerick about 'A Young Man in a Queue' and then followed up Christine's railway theme with 'The Night Mail' — a nod to W H Auden and John Betjeman, and the news that Royal Mail no longer transport mail by rail but use road and air transport instead. 'The Tea Lady' celebrated a lady who catered for the food and drink needs of the band that pianist Ray travelled the UK with, by coach, before he retired. Peter Taylor's poem 'In Flight' was chosen by Claire, his wife, to read on his behalf — a lyrical and thoughtful poem about the flight formations of migrant geese. 'Who flies as leader?' Jenna Plewes rattled windows and doors and bowed cedars down before 'Storm Bert' which hit the UK in November 2024. Her 'Letter to my Husband' was a tender memorial. Peter Wilkinson brought in some Mediterranean sunshine with 'Postcard from Pelion', a vivid 'postcard poem which made all of us wishe we were there. 'The Landlady's Tale' by Gill Learner gave a voice to the kind, sensible village woman who owned the inn where Mary and Joseph found shelter. Her help with the birth of the baby is rewarded in the last lines of the poem. Gill encouraged us to 'Be grateful for the weather' — good advice considering that we can't change it! Tony Watts also rewrote a bible story — in his rewrite of the creation story, Eve is a heroine, and Adam is blamed for creating 'God in Man's image.' 'Skylark' was one of his wonderful sequences about birds. Daphne Milne was still recovering from breaking her ankle and decided to read two of her poems about the walks she can't atke at the moment. 'Grief doesn't heal remembered walikng with her husband. 'A Walk to the Bucket of Blood took us on a walk in the village where Daphne lives. Clive Donovan read 'The First Stone', the opening poem of his new collection, Movement of People. Asking unanswerable questions about who was the first aggressor anong humankind Clive speculated, who first picked up a stone and threw it at another man in a violent quarrel? His second poem, from a previous collection, was equally thought-provoking. Audrey Ardern-Jones gave us a word picture of an eighty-year-old lady who so loved the musical theatre that she always asked 'Play Hello Dolly' and had it played at her funeral. In her ghazal 'Lost Voices' Audrey told of unravelling her own mother's history as an emigrant from Lvov. Greg Smith remembered 'Number 38 The Birches' and surveyed the detritus of the post-Christmas home. Sharron Green's post-Christmas poem was much more cheerful! Sharon reminded us that her open mic event at Solar Sisters in Guildford is on Wednesday 14th January. And finally, Aaron Barschak read 'On Flanders Field Road', a poem he wrote in 2015 about a small football pitch in East Ham where Bobby Charlton trained as a boy. So we started 2025 with a flourish of varied topics and good poems. Our next session will be at 7:30 on February 4th. On Monday 27th January, we'll send out emails to remind you that you can offer to read — just reply if you would like to be included on the list. On Monday 3rd February we'll send you February's link to the event and a list of the readers. To add your name to the list of people who receive these emails, just press the button below. We'll welcome you. — Janice & Dónall
The Day before the Fall in the USA and a Penny for the Guy
Julia Duke brought us vivid pictures of Norwegian life and landscapes in 'Lord of Misrule','National Constitution Day' and 'When the streams come together', which was based on 'Bright Field' by R.S.Thomas. Christine Vial returned to the Autumn theme with 'Jason goes back to university, year 2' and then read a poem based on the tragic facts emerging about the burning down of the Grenfell Tower flats 14 years ago - the public enquiry is in the news now.
Ray Pool read about Shalford watermill, garden bonfires and then became Pam Ayes in 'Strictly Off-Limits'. It was a brilliant parody. Liz Kon's poem was in praise of 'My Elastic Friends'. Judith Wozniak's collection 'Making Dolmades in Essex' was published the same day and she came along to read two poems from the book. There's to be an online launch on Wednesday 27th November and a Torriano Meeting House reading with Dónall as her guest, on Sunday 1st December. Next month we meet on November 5th. We've decided to publish the link here, so that everyone who wants find out how Monkeys feel about fireworks and explosions of the Houses of Parliament and probably a lot of other subjects can find it. This link will open on November 5th at 7:20 for a 7:30 start. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87944122284?pwd=b1jxHH4dri6643GNlGj36APfrsdQp8.1
If the quality had not been so high, I'd be criticising the quantity! 14 poets read on 2nd July. To them and to those who tuned in just to listen — thank you, all of you. The range of topics, from gardens and birds, through football to Gaza and the upcoming British general election day, kept the pace lively.
We were very pleased to see Tim Waller, now in Chicago, listening in (we met in London workshops before Covid) and a new reader, Aaron Barschak, whom Dónall has met at live gigs in London. Aaron has a poem in our Spring Anthology, Green Fuses. This evening he read an absolute show-stopper about Gaza, which made me sorry I hadn't videoed the proceedings this time. We hope he'll come back and give us more. An actor as well as a poet, Aaron's preferred reading environment is probably the live stage, but his words are equally powerful on the screen. Christine Vial's big poem about big events and London's crowds conflated the recent England Football Team's matches in Germany with the London Gay Pride celebrations and memories evoked by the upcoming 9th anniversary of the 7/7 London Transport bombings by terrorists in central London. Derek Sellen's readings of three poems from the Collected Poems of Hubert Moore were also on a London theme: observations of smaller incidents on streets, including '|To the Man who Picked my Pocket on the 149'. Hubert Moore died recently and we're inspired to find out more about him. Clive Donovan followed with an appeal to 'Carol' to understand why he turned down her offer of a job spying 'for sex and doughnuts', and a lovely tongue-twister of a poem about ten-minutes' timed free-writing in a poetry workshop! Gill Learner returned to the theme of football for her spirited elegy for George Best, and also read her poem 'The Lucombe Oak' from Green Fuses. Timothy Adès read his translation of 'Memories of the Circus' by López Velarde who wrote the Mexican National Poem. You can read the original and Timothy's translation here. Timothy's translation was published in Artes de México, No. 83, CIRCO ARTE Y POESÍA (April 2007). Peter Taylor 's poem about a musical, dancing garden was read beautifully by Claire Taylor, as Peter's Parkinson's condition has advanced to a stage where he's no longer able to read his poetry aloud. The joint activity gives pleasure to them both, Peter has told us. Tony Watts gave us poems on a baby's initiation into the poetry reading community, birds and the joys of a 'proper' fire. Liv Johannesson read a poem from her recent book,What Good Could Grow, which is available on Amazon, and two new poems. Birds — the hunting and shooting of them — was the theme of a graphic poem by Greg Smith, who also explored the meaning and purpose of potatoes. and opened our eyes to their lyrical possibilities even beyond cookery books! Ray Pool was in serious mode this month, with 'Horses Bolting', a poem looking back to his childhood trauma during WW2. Dennis Tomlinson, fresh back from a visit to Wexford in Ireland, read the short poem that the visit had inspired. Jenna Plewes read from her latest book, Holding the Light, published by Hedgehog Press. The proceeds from it go to Medicins Sans Frontières. And after Aaron's poem 'Jews Don't Count', Ruth Butler read another topical poem, 'Denial' — with the British General Election on July 4th, she took a suitably cynical approach to the situation. Our next get-together will be on Tuesday 6th August. Keep a look-out in our weekly newsletter for the 'Call-out for Readers' at the end of July. We had a great hour of poetry on Tuesday 4th June, with 12 readers, in spite of the fine weather and the bank holiday /half-term week. We heard some brilliant readings of their own poems by Mantz Yorke, Anne Symons, Derek Sellen, Clive Donovan, Timothy Adès, Claire for Peter Taylor, Christine Vial, Tony Watts, Julia Duke, Ray Pool and Peter Kennedy. Only three videos to show you this week — Janice is taking a break from video editing. So do come along on July 2nd when we'll be meeting up again. The next call-out for readers will be in our newsletter soon. Sign up to receive it free, in your inbox at 8o'clock each Monday morning. https://mailchi.mp/f02fd1467bd7/dempseyandwindle
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