A fortnight later than planned we read a selection of poems from the remaining five poets on the T.S. Eliot shortlist. We ignored the fact that the winner was announced the night before and concentrated on the words on the page. Every single poem touched us in a different way and we enjoyed the variety of tone, perspective and subject matter. The themes spanned strength and vulnerability, aging and death, grief and rebirth – an satisfying cycle to mull over on a wet January evening.
At the end of the session it was revealed that Philip Gross had won this year’s prize with his collection The Water Table, a surprising choice for this group at least. We chose Christopher Reid’s A Scattering (Faber) to read at next month’s session, deeply impressed by the title poem. It also recently won this year’s Costa Prize in the Poetry Category. Eilean Ni Chuilleanain’s The Sun-fish was also a strong contender and is on our list to return to later.
Everyone asked after Anna, who stayed at home to look after baby Archie, who was born on 29 December 2009. Congratulations, Anna! We look forward to seeing you again soon. Maybe at the next meeting, in a fortnight’s time, on Tuesday 2 February 6.15pm-8pm, at Blackwell’s (who are ordering copies of A Scattering for us, so do pop in and buy a copy and claim your discount).
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