World Poetry Day

 

Magic happens at After Hours Coffeehouse. We had a small group on Saturday March 21 (it's taken me  a long time to post this!) and a broad theme: World Poetry Day. I suspect, in fact, those were the reasons the magic happened this time in its particular way. Three of our audience had never attended before and did not intend to read, but because we had such a small gathering, (due, probably, to a rare day of fabulous gardening weather outside, and an exciting launch at Open Space gallery of Yvonne Blomer’s third anthology Sublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice which drew many poets) our newcomers stepped up, hearts aflutter and read or recited! Duncan Kerkham started us off with a Tu Fu poem about spring and homesickness, which he recited in the original Chinese, followed by my reading of  Ada Limon’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up”. Then our inimitable Craig Hiebert read “Afternoon in the House”, twice. Again, because of our small group, we offered the poems twice, which deepened our listening and appreciation. Joan Paterson read two Mary Oliver poems “Gratitude” and “The Messenger” while Anthony Hamilton read the quiet and powerful poem, “The Blessing” by James Wright. We heard another recital, then, this one by Rob Lockie who delivered John Masefield’s musical poem “Sea Fever”. Mary Huxley, who usually listens, gamely read two poems— “Amor Fati” by Jane Hirshfield and another poem by Ada Limon, “Wonder Woman”. It was, indeed, an intimate afternoon of bravery and delight in sharing poetry with a new audience—just what UNESCO intended, I believe, in declaring March 21, World Poetry Day in honour of this ancient and international tradition.

            We had to skip April due to a scheduling conflict. Our next meeting will be Saturday May 16th, International Day of Light, so our theme is Light--quantum physics Light or Stars, or Light Years, or just Light.   Please come with poems you love and join us for more magic!

Yours in poetry, Cynthia