Poetry Thursday
‘WE SEEM TO SPEND THE TIME SEARCHING FOR ENGLAND AND SIGNS OF HER INFLUENCE’
The Thursday Poetry Group has settled in well at its new home in the George, Castle Cary. We have been made to feel welcome by everyone at the pub and the room we use, with its sherry barrels, skulls and horns is somehow conducive to poetry.
We settle down with coffee and biscuits and allow the stories to flow. We share poems, experiences and whatever has stirred our inspiration, and somehow the land on which we live is never far away. History and myth combine and come forward to guide us to unexpected yet familiar places that are shaped by Albion and poets from around the world to help us try and form our own interpretations.
We have begun to use themes rather than individual poets to focus thoughts. ‘Surprise’, ‘Song’ and ‘Land’ are our most recent ideas, and being more existential in our selections seems to leave more space for personal choice and reflection. Not that our meetings are solemn in any way: loud laughter often punctuates between the readings – even when it’s Larkin.
My own understanding and thoughts have been challenged by the other members and as a consequence I have read verse that I may never have discovered otherwise. I hope something similar has occurred for everyone. Meanwhile I’ll look forward to our next meeting and joining Blake, John Clare and Perry Grayson in a search for the spirit of England and St. Edmund.