Did Eliot say his audience was ‘few but select?’ He would have been very pleased with our

themed reading  (‘Christmas Cheer’) organised by Seven Towers, where there was plenty to entertain the intrepids that ventured out on this cold winter evening. Ross Hattaway read from his collection (‘The Gentle Art of Rotting’): ‘Summer New Years’, a poem I always see as something of an elegy for our lost pasts, those times we might have lived (or think we might have lived) more in touch with things before they all vanished. And ‘Singing in Choirs’ which tries to pin down that desire for unity/perfection when we might get everything to go really well for us: the athlete who manages to bring it all together at the moment when it counts… Rare moments! Also Ross gave some from his forthcoming new collection.

Anne Morgan gave some memory poems, one about a person who nursed a poet through a serious illness and then married him. Lucky poet to meet up with someone like that in his hour of need! Anne’s eye for description comes out very well in ‘Swans in the Winter’. Also some frustrations: she always wanted to do ballet lessons but ended up with Irish Dancing. My sisters too, with similar disappointment! I also liked her poem ‘The Notebook’.

Nothing, not snow, ice or anything else, stops Karl Parkinson

delivering his stuff. And what stuff! I really enjoy his poetry with it’s startling imagery (snow=white death). As well as some of his own, he read ‘Thanksgiving’ by William Burroughs and it was so good I am tracking it down to read again.

I read ‘Bosnian Housewife’ from my ‘And Suddenly the Sun Again’ collection, then ‘Metsu’s Woman’, a first outing for a poem on the art of Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667) whose exhibition in the National Gallery has to be seen to be believed, it’s so good. Then I read a short Xmas poem, just to include myself (somehow) in the evening’s theme.

A very enjoyable reading. And thanks to Sarah who acted as MC.