Wednesday 8 January 2014

Poetry Events ~ RhymeWeld at our Poetry Cafe

'Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie ...' 1785, Robert Burns

We tried something a little different at our monthly Poetry Cafe in Arlington's last night, namely a RhymeWeld (some felt it should be a RhymeMeld).

A reader began by reading the title of a short poem followed by the poem and a moment's pause. The next person in the circle followed suit and so on, allowing the poems to form part of a much larger poem cycle.

The experiment made us realise that it was quite hard to restrain ourselves from jumping in with our usual comments and questions the moment a poem was over. It also made us think that when we try this again, we will go a little more with the flow, inviting any poet in the room to follow on if he or she feels the piece has a connection to what has gone immediately before. Will this make for more or less spontaneity and will this method enhance that feeling of creating something new in a unified way?

The exercise reminded me of starry winter nights in days gone by when our ancestors told tales around the fire. I read my poem The Ceilidh House in the RhymeWeld.

We returned to our normal procedure for the second half, and since Burns' Night will have come and gone by our February gathering, I read my poem called 'The Mouse Replies' in which I imagine what the wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie might have said to the poet.

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