Poems and Pictures

Two years ago almost to the day, Gill Stoker of the Mary Evans Picture Library in Blackheath had the brilliant idea of combining her love of the spoken word with the fascinating collection of images stored at the Library. With the help of local poets Mick Delap and Lorraine Mariner she began to invite other local poets to submit poems inspired by or seeming to illustrate one or more images from the Library. The ‘Poems and Pictures’ blog was born, and in two years it has attracted poets from all over the world and more and more poems are being posted on it, all of fantastic quality. Its second birthday was definitely something worth celebrating.

The evening was a wonderful mixture of voices and styles and the projected images were intriguing, funny, surprising… and so much more. The central rotunda of West Greenwich Library was full beyond capacity, with many extra chairs being carted in by the ever-helpful staff to accommodate everyone. Those who took part were: Mick Delap (who also MCd), Harvey Duke (read by Gill Stoker), Ken Evans (read by Mick Delap), Robin Houghton, Sarah Lawson, Lorraine Mariner, Gabriel Moreno (with and without guitar..), Emma Simon, Fiona Sinclair (read by Gill Stoker), Peter Wallis, Richard Westcott and Sarah Westcott. Poets also chose and read works by others, which they selected out of the hundred plus poems on the blog.

I think the blog’s third birthday will call for another celebration, so watch this space!

Gill Stoker introducing the work of the Mary Evans Picture Library to the packed audience

Below: Mick Delap reading ‘Lady with an Ermine’ by Maja Trochimczyk, Gabriel Moreno reading his own ‘Ode to Hull’, Sarah Lawson reading Rowland Hill’s ‘Gin Slings in Singapore’ and Gill Stoker reading ‘If I was Not’ by Jeni Braund. All photographs © Paul Brown.
Visit http://www.maryevans.com/poetryblog.php for the entire collection of poems and related pictures.

Events

Tuesday September 8 at West Greenwich Library: ‘As it Must’ – poetry with Gale Burns, Golnoosh Nourpanah and Jocelyn Page

Come and join me to hear these three impressive diverse voices. Here’s a bit about them…

Gale Burns has lived in Forest Hill for several decades. He has won two international awards for poetry and his publications include three pamphlets and a collection called Mute House, published by Eyewear. Gale’s work has been translated into several European languages as well as Arabic, and he has been poet in residence at Lewisham Hospital, Sydenham Arts Festival, and Kingston University. He is one of the founders of the Shuffle Poetry reading series and a member of Poets for the Planet. He will be launching As it Must, his latest collection recently published with Kingston University Press. www.galeburns.co.uk

Golnoosh Nourpanah is an Iranian-British writer, lecturer, and tarot reader. Golnoosh has a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing and teaches this topic at Birkbeck. She is the author of The Ministry of Guidance and Other Stories (2020) and Rocksong (2021). Golnoosh’s poetry pamphlet Impure Thoughts came out with Verve Poetry Press in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Live Canon Pamphlet Competition. She has performed her work at literature festivals and events across the UK and internationally. Her work has also been published by Granta, Vintage, and Columbia Journal. https://www.golnooshnour.com

Jocelyn Page is a poet from Connecticut, USA, living in London. She has published in various journals including The Spectator, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg, South Carolina Review and Poetry Review. Her debut pamphlet, smithereens, was published in 2010 by tall lighthouse press and in 2016 her You’ve Got to Wait Till the Man You Trust Says Go was the winner of the Goldsmiths’ Writer Centre’s inaugural Poetry Pamphlet award. Jocelyn is the Resident Creative Consultant at Greenpeace International. She teaches English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College and the University of London Worldwide. http://www.jocelyn-page.com

A free event, all welcome (7 for 7.30). Fully accessible venue. Refreshments (donations welcome) and books on sale.

Next events:

Tuesday October 6: Blake Morrison

Tuesday November 10: Pindrop Press Poets – Sharon Black, Alex Josephy and Emily Wills