I moaned recently that in this part of the world at least, live poetry events just did not seem to be happening yet. Well, at least one public reading will be happening soon.
At the Holmfirth Arts Festival (September 17th-19th) there will be a live reading from Escape: Writing out of Lockdown, the collection the Holmfirth Writers’ Group has compiled from what they have written to cheer themselves up during the past miserable months. It will happen on September 19th at Holmfirth Technical College.
Places are limited because of Covid distancing, but you might be able to book a seat via the festival website.
I’m not sure which poem(s) I’ll read at the event, but here’s a short poem of mine that appears in the collection:
Sunshine
Happily we buckle to
For our January job,
And breathe the scent of marmalade
That bubbles on the hob
A promise of good breakfast times
Brews darkly for us there;
Concentrated citrus
Supersaturates the air.
Rich brew of sugar, juice and peel –
What other scent could fill
January in Huddersfield
With the sunshine of Seville?
September 20, 2021 at 5:09 pm
Just for the record – the event went very well (with a spaced-out audience and masks except when reading).
Maybe we’re gradually inching towards normality.