It was the first time I slightly let go of my baby and trusted it to someone else, in this case into the very generous hands of Gale Burns. Actually – this isn’t true. Each time poets and authors have come and read at in-words events it became THEIR event, with me as the midwife, not the mother… Enough of this metaphor! I enjoyed collaborating with Gale and taking a backseat on the night – experiencing the evening as a member of the large audience. And what an experience! So engrossing that I completely forgot to take photos… BUT… librarian David did take some. See below.
It was an opportunity for Gale to launch his latest collection, As it Must, in SE London. It is a deeply personal collection (what poetry isn’t deeply personal?) – in the sense that he opens a door for us to step into his family of origin and his own past, but not only… Sometimes, when I read the full collection, I felt that that door got suddenly slammed shut, but with wit and empathy. I felt there was no nostalgia but curiosity in his poetic exploration. and all with word-perfect skill. A book that begs to be read more than once, and repays you with not only beauty but many aha moments. If you didn’t buy on the night, do it now!!
Golnoosh Nourpanah read from her collection Rocksong (with an intriguing, almost scary cover!), poems from an anthology and newer ones that haven’t yet been published (can’t wait to read them in print!). I am intrigued to know more about her writing process as a bilingual Persian/English poet – there was no time for this question, but also listening to her very visual verses made that question partly irrelevant. The politics of Iran were never completely absent from her poems, even in the one debating what a poem is and is not. Her interest in tarot as a key to deeper insight and connections started to open my eyes to something I had never considered before.
Jocelyn Page read from her collection smithereens and poems that have been published in reviews and magazines but not yet in book form. Again, I hope they will be soon! I so enjoy hearing voices that are a mixture of cultures and experiences, that open windows onto inner and outer landscapes that are surprising because of the originality of the words and verbal devices used but become quickly familiar. This is what poetry does – for me, at least. And sometimes it’s just the music of it. Jocelyn’s poems have it all. Her academic work made her the perfect ‘interviewer’: after the break she led a discussion and took questions from the floor for Gale, Golnoosh and herself to explore and answer.
As always the audience was totally engaged and interested.
As always, they also enjoyed my cakes and the drinks so gracefully served by Mari and Mandy. Librarians Helen and David went over and above as usual. I thank them all. And thank-you to everyone who came and help make it a vibrant, buzzing evening.
Here are the biographies of the poets. The information in them will also help you purchase any of their books.
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 Reviewand 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
