A little bit of...poetry?

I'm not known for my poetry. I have written poems, but they tend to be ones that rhyme because I find it relatively easy to write to a rhythm, but I've never really understood or appreciated haikus or sonnets or other formal poetic forms.

That said, I do occasionally dabble. 

The first time I was published, I'd won a limerick competition (and £50!) in a writing magazine. It went something like...

A young lady who felt fashion keenly

Tried on a new-fangled bikini

With two bits of string, 

Some knots and a ring

The thing would've baffled Houdini! 

I did write some poetry - actually, it's probably more accurate to say I wrote rhymes - in one of my Granny Rainbow stories about the Poetic Postman. And I've sometimes put new words to familiar hymn tunes for Christmas services. But I don't write much 'proper' poetry - the stuff that is deep and meaningful, that makes a connection with the listener. 

But you might remember in my last post that I said I'd decided to try a bit more poetry after attending a poetry session at the online Writing East Midlands Conference. Well, last weekend, I got the opportunity. I attended States of Independence Day Online, an event usually held at De Montfort University in Leicester, where independent publishers, authors and booksellers get together. (The last time I went, I met an agent who took me on for a short while, having seen StarMark) The programme was a mix of live discussion panels on Zoom, and pre-recorded readings and workshops on YouTube. 

One of the workshops was by Maria Taylor, a poet who also happens to be a neighbour of mine. She gave three very different writing prompts and read some of her own poetry to show how the themes  of 'routine', 'ghosts' and 'the great outdoors' could be interpreted. 

So I had a go. 

Here's the one I was most proud of - which I wrote it out and pushed it through Maria's door to say thank you for such a great session.

Homemade wine

As I drink my homemade fruit wines - 

the blood red-black of mighty fine blackberry,

the rosy tint of red gooseberry, 

the dryness of next-door's plum, 

the sharpness of raspberry -

you are with me in every sip.

Your wines were pea-pod white, carrot, and parsnip,

tastes I never got to sample before you went,

because of my age.

I could only watch the bottles being taken

     from the darkness of an under-stairs cupboard,

to be opened by grieving uncles,

who raised a toast

to the maker of the vintages 

who was beyond drinking them by then.

Writing East Midlands Conference 2021

This conference, organised by Writing East Midlands in partnership with Lincoln University, should have happened last year - twice. I was booked on it... As with many things last year, it was postponed - twice - and took place finally last week, online, over the course of four days.

Now, I've been to other writing conferences in the past in person, so I wasn't quite sure how an online one would work. Most of the fun of a conference comes from networking with lots of other like-minded people and talking about all things 'writing'. How would an online conference achieve that? 

I needn't have worried. 

#WEMCONF21 used a classroom system - collaborate - which although it is primarily a lecture delivery system, still allowed sufficient interaction between presenters and made good use of the chat facility for attendees to ask questions and interact with other. (And we did that a lot!) Moderators did a brilliant job of reminding delegates before each session how to get the best out of it (turn your video and microphone off, and refresh if you lose the presenter!) and of helping when problems arose during the sessions, though these were few and far between. It felt really well organised and controlled. 

The striking thing for me about this conference generally is that topic-wise, it did not focus solely on the craft or a route to publication, as conferences I've attended by other providers sometimes have. It did cover some of these aspects, but it also gave presentations on things like creative citizenship (how do you/can you use your art to create change?), on opening up creative writing opportunities for writers with impairments, on how to apply for grants to enable you to further your own writing practice or deliver social projects and on the power of poetry. It was a much wider programme than I think I've ever experienced. 

There was also much more diversity apparent in the choice of presenters. Yes, there were some 'big names', but there were also names I wasn't familiar with and am now inspired to look up.

The overall feeling I got was that this was a conference for writers of all types, not just writers who want to know how to be published or how to improve their craft. The latter is well supported by WEM's many different courses and mentoring schemes, so I suppose in some ways, it didn't need to be covered in the conference as much. 

I really enjoyed all the sessions I attended and came away with much food for thought.