Diary: April 2023

My diary posts are the place for a bit of my news, poetry community news, plus my adventures in creativity

At the end of this month I’m off to a writing retreat in Wales organised by The Writing School called Journey to the Centre of the Poem with poet Vanessa Lambert. Very much looking forward to this. I’m hoping it will help with that tricky question of what is the poem doing? Hannah Lowe referred to this as “finding the nub of a poem,” in this interesting article.

I’ve booked the trains, now the dilemma is what to pack? Tee-shirts and shades or umbrella and woolies. A very British problem at all times, the only answer is both, though right now this situation is exacerbated by an inclement weather system produced by, you’ve guessed it, climate change.  Some poetry news follows but first a reflection on this phenomenon.

This time three years ago I was sitting outside my flat reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in balmy Mediterranean temperatures that whole month. I can’t help think of the contrast with this year where temperatures struggle to limp above ten degrees, feeling like six with the wind chill factor.

It’s all down to the Polar Jet Stream I hear, fast moving air currents at high altitude which form at the boundary of two different air masses. To the north cold polar air, to the south warm tropical air. By is very nature it fluctuates, it meanders, but this much? According to this article this is a direct consequence of climate change. 

“Even a slight change in the “waviness” of the polar or the subtropical jet stream can lead to dramatic weather changes in mid-latitude regions, from northern California to Moscow… In the past 30 years, scientists have observed an intensification of the waves, coinciding with increased global warming. More waviness in the jet stream means that rain and wind remain in a region longer than if the jet stream simply traveled due east with no detours.”

So there you have it. Thirty years of research yet still the deniers clamour.

The Jet Steam 15th April 2023

COMING UP

Friday 21st April 12.00-2.00pm

Poets for the Planet will be joining Writers Rebel on the first day of XR’s four days of mass non-violent protest organised by XR in partnership with more than 70 other organisations including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. 

We will holding a picket outside “the home of fossil fuel dark money”, the home of lobbyists and think tanks linked to climate denial, at 55 Tufton Street with speeches from Rupert Read, Juliet Stevenson, Jay Griffiths, Baroness Rosie Boycott and other leading campaigning writers and poetry readings.

The day itself is part of the People’s Picket happening across London by XR, as part of The Big One. XR are picketing numerous government offices along with Tufton Street that day. Writers Rebel won’t be the only group picketing Tufton Street. We will be joined by a 200 strong samba band XR Rhythms, The Dirty Scrubbers, XR Merseyside, XR Plymouth, XR Buddhists and other groups.

Thursday 27th Apr 7.00- 8.30pm 

The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London WC2 0DT hosts the launch of Neptune’s Projects by Rishi Dastidar.

Rishi will be joined in a conversation through their work by fellow poets Jessica Mookherjee and Tania Hershman for an evening of maritime-themed poetry. More info here.

Neptune’s Projects is published by Nine Arches Press who write, “What do you do when you are a god – but powerless to prevent one of your favourite species from their insatiable, accelerating death wish? Such is the dilemma that underpins Rishi Dastidar’s third poetry collection, Neptune’s Project, a reshaping of mythology for the climate crisis era.”

“There has always been an intersection between poetry and the natural world. Now here comes Rishi Dastidar’s Neptune to add wit, postmodern panache and mythic irony to the tradition of the open sea. A richly rewarding read.”

– Roger Robinson

£14 Book and Ticket, inc. a copy of Neptune’s Projects (RRP £10.99) / £8 General Admission

#amwriting Have discovered the Japanese form Zuihitsu just days after coming across an old draft of of poem which approximates that form so playing with that. 

#amreading What Poets Used to Know: Poetics § Mythopoesis § Metaphysics by Charles Upton

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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Writing prompt: The Crown Wand Orchid

Play with this one; use the image as a prompt, or the name, what a name! Write from the point of view of the orchid. Set a timer for ten or fifteen minutes; whichever you feel comfortable with and freewrite in poetry or prose, whatever comes, see where it takes you. Have fun.

Rules of the freewrite after Natalie Goldberg, from Writing Down the Bones. Keep your hand moving, don’t stop or cross out, don’t self censor, go for the jugular, don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Don’t think, just write, follow the words, just see what comes. 

Image, Paphiopedilum fairrieanum in situ, Kengkhar, Mongar District, Bhutan. October 2nd 2019 © Dhan Gurung

Once you have a rough draft consider what you have just made. Is it just for fun or does it feel it desires development? Does it welcome a form? You may wish to refer to the notes below or research the subject further. Maybe take the writing in a different direction or choose a different point of view.

The Paphiopedilum fairrieanum, also known as the Crown Wand Orchid, is an epiphyte (a plant that grows on another plant (non parasitically. It is from the Indian Himalayas and Bhutan at elevations of 1300 to 2200 metres. It is also found on limestone cliffs in the oak forest near water and on grassy slopes. 

It is an area subject to seasonal monsoons. The wet season is very wet with heavy rains. When the dry monsoon comes the region still receives light rains and heavy dews as the temperatures drop every night.

In 2015 this orchid was recorded on The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of threatened species. The IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper

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Photography: Spring Equinox

I created this image Saturday 20th March this year, on the spring equinox. This is the fence at the end of our block on Cressingham Gardens housing estate over looking Brockwell Park.

It spoke to me of balance and also the way the natural world and the human environment in cities entwine and coexist, though both are threatened by so-called regeneration.

Ironic really, I guess, as balance and coexistence is arguably lacking on a world wide basis. It doesn’t have to be that way.

While recently we have been hearing many stories about the challenges to biodiversity and the ice sheets, communities threatened by fire and rising sea levels as a result of the climate emergency there is still time, I believe.

There are so many acting to bring the truth to light, so many knowledgeable making change, so many with new ideas and technologies, I remain hopeful.

Image taken with iPhone. Cropped. Contrast, light and black point adjusted, no filter.

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper

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Diary: April 2020

Three months since what felt like a head first plunge into the void, was just seeing glimpse of the light again around the time the WHO declared the virus a pandemic. I wake that day aching all over, which is nothing new, and with a mild sore throat though after a coffee that’s gone. Head into Brixton to see Amina, my mental health support worker.

Amina asks if I’d like to co-facilitate a poetry workshop and takes some notes to refer me to a psychologist. So it’s all good. I notice as I leave there is hand sanitizer in the waiting room. This is the first real world sign that the virus that originated In China is getting closer. Will there be the will here to deal with it so systematically? 

Hardly notice March slip into April in the stream of corona updates. Mental health support promptly ceases. No phone or zoom consultation offered… At the mo am okish, I guess. Bolstered by daily mediation, yoga and conscious breathing. See my post https://seedsandfuses.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/covid-19-a-time-to-breathe-well/ how you can soothe your nervous system and boost your immune system with the breath. Though energy, motivation and concentration are severely limited.

This would be so much harder if it weren’t for my neighbours and friends. Keeping in touch with nearest and dearest. My brother and I had a virtual cafe “date” recently which was fun. Spent a lot of time reading in the sun. Here’s the no edits squinty, frowny lockdown pic during the hottest April on record, no need for alarm about that, no, no need at all…

Seems everything has gone Zoom, a couple I hope to attend are

Monday 13th April 8-9pm

Brixton Bookjam 

“Feed your brain with our congenial, intelligent, unpredictable event for readers and writers” featuring8Stuart Maconie, Daniel Ruiz-Tizon, Anna Maconochie, Morton Valence, Andrew Mueller and Venetia Welby”

@brixtonbookjam

http://www.brixtonbookjam.com 

Friday 17th April 8.00pm

Cath Drake’s launch of The Shaking City

With guest poets Kate Potts (currently shortlisted for The Moth Prize) & Karen McCarthy Woolf

Join the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/209088623708461

#amreading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and The Dalai Lama’s Cat and #amwriting a bit, now and then…

A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper 

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