The Stoke Newington Poetry Reading Group is one of our Poetry Champions. During the Olympics, Paralympics and beyond they will be sharing their views on the Olympics and telling us what they thought of the "Winning Words ":http://www.winningwordspoetry.com/poetry anthology published by Faber. Here they tell us more about the history of the group and the range of poems they like to read.
Our group began in Stoke Newington Library in January 2011, and has since been growing steadily. We’re a very mixed group, and come to the poems from all sorts of different perspectives. It’s perhaps that diversity which has enlivened the discussions, and I think we share a feeling that talking about the poems with others really enriches our understanding of them. A few members of the groups are poets themselves, though most are just people who enjoy reading poetry, or want to find out more about it.
The group chooses books together – we’ve covered quite a range of poets so far, from metaphysical to contemporary multicultural poets, as well as individual writers such as Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickinson. Once, when we were waiting for a new set of books to be delivered, we had a session where people brought along any poem they had come across which had caught their eye (or baffled them) – this worked so well it we decided to introduce it as a regular event.
It’s a friendly and informal group where all views are welcome. Before talking about a poem we read it aloud, which also means people can still join in if they’re new, or have had a heavy month and not read as much as they’d planned to.
“Reading and discussing poetry with the group is not only great fun but also a lovely way to get a deeper understanding of poetry – one I would never get reading alone. I look forward to our monthly meetings very much and always leave feeling enthusiastic and edified.” Lyndsay, group member
Please do get in contact if you’d like find out more about joining the group.
We would love to hear about your poetry reading groups. Drop us an email and tell us who’s involved, how long you’ve been together, and what your group’s top three poems are. You can also share your favourite poems with us on facebook and twitter.
