Thursday saw me catching the bus into Guildford (and seeing Paddington Bear) then train to Woking for another Open Mic at The Lightbox. 18 people in all, come to read their poems and listen to Patrick Osada.  Greg Freeman did the honours in the first half while I did the packed  second half and almost got carried away thinking of AA and the poets sitting around sharing their poems/stories.  We finished with time to spare with a few poems by Kitty Coles. I enjoyed very much both hearing the poems and talking with those attending.

The next night I travelled to Waterloo and stopped off at the Poetry Library to get some books and look at a reconstruction of WS Graham’s cottage and workplace.W Then onwards  to The King & Queen for the London launch of Carrie Etter’s fourth collection, The Weather in Normal, with guest readers John Clegg (who introduced proceedings), Kathryn Maris, and Jane Yeh. I sat in the front row and noticed that the person next to me had the same book I’d just borrowed, it was Kathryn. We talked until it was time for the readings.  Kathryn and Jane had two poems each while the lovely Carrie had 10 mins and read brilliantly with emphasis on space and pacing. After that was able to catch up with Susie, wave at Tammy, Jill, before talking to Carrie.

Questions after of course but they had in common an active social side and a love of sharing poems

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