Our first night in our new home was warm in all senses of the word. The ceiling fan whirred softly as we sipped wine and fruit juice on our sofas and armchairs surrounded by books: a very civilised and comfortable setting for the Poetry Room (many thanks, Blackwell’s). After some initially tentative discussion and avowed uncertainty, everyone came to appreciate and admire Alice Oswald’s brave and original Woods etc. It was impossible not to stray into the philosophical, trying to track how she achieved her effects in the handful of poems we looked at. We considered her way of writing – out of a deep listening to language and the natural world (wearing earplugs!) that requires an equally careful attention from the reader. The themes of the collection follow a structure reflected in several of the individual poems – through the various elements, concrete/graphic material (sea, woods, stones, people), into a less and less substantial spaciousness (moon, stars, space). Words folk decided they associated with her work included risk-taking, rigorous, classical, expansive, a spirit of interconnectedness, beautiful, fresh, thought-provoking, dynamic. Everyone went away at the end of the evening refreshed by the precision and openness of the poems, having glimpsed a different world, where human beings aren’t necessarily at the centre of things and there might be more space for the unexpected.
* The dates for the next sessions are 30 September (Jackie Kay’s Darling), 28 October (Daljit Nagra’s Look We have Coming to Dover!) and 25 November (Billy Collins’s Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes) – all Tuesday evenings at 6.30pm at Blackwell’s. Keep an eye on the website for information on the books we will be discussing. And meanwhile, have a wonderful poetic summer…
