WOKING WRITERS CIRCLE MEETING ON ZOOM ON AUGUST 20 2020

Attending: Danny, Amanda (briefly!), Greg, Alix, Alan, Hilary, Sarah DD, Simon, Liz, Carla.

Apologies:  Peter, Heather, Mel.  

News:

Hilary gave us the latest news on the question of returning to the church hall, or not. It would be possible from September, with a number of restrictions in place, although the government website did not advise a return to such gatherings before October. This was of course before the new restrictions were announced. Most members felt they were not ready to return to live meetings yet. But Alix had the good idea of an open-air meeting in Woking Park, and that has since taken place, attended by six of us – Alix, Tricia, Hilary, Amanda, Danny and Greg.  

Liz said the book group would be looking at the Booker-prize winning novel The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes in September, and at Small Island in October.

Readings:

Greg read a poem called ‘Cycle Street’ about living in an end-of-terrace house in the late 70s in York.

Carla read a poem called ‘Masking Faces’ which was first put together at a Poetry Business workshop and has now been published in the Dempsey & Windle What Next competition anthology. Its last line ends with these arresting words … “the phantasamagorical reality of the corona”.  

Alix read a short story called ‘Masquerade’, about tension in a couple’s relationship as they misread each other’s desires.   

Liz gave us some haiku, a political one, and another about the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima Day, usually commemorated with tea-light candles floating in the river Wey. But not this year. She also intrigued us with another glimpse of her life as a student in Newcastle in the 60s. She has already tantalised us – well, Greg, anyway – with tales of attending poetry readings at the legendary Morden Tower, frequented by the US Beat poets when they were visiting England. But being the 60s, she can’t remember much about it. Now she read a poem called ‘Wind’ that was published in a magazine at the time, Universities (7), that was edited by the poet Peter Redgrove. A poetry dark house, is Liz.

Alan’s short story ‘Special Delivery’ involved an Amazon van and a Chinese dissident who is abducted on his doorstep.  

Sarah DD read out a love letter to Jane Austen that she had tried out on us before, but had now played around with a bit. It is a ‘what if’ kind of letter that contains a marriage proposal, from Harris Bigg-Wither, which Jane first accepted and then turned down. This is all true https://www.digitalausten.org/node/26 Sarah phrased the letter in such a way that we can see why Jane eventually saw sense.

Hilary read the beginning of another chapter of her new novel. Her main character lives in a ropey council tower block, and goes to the park on a Sunday, which evokes unhappy memories of childhood and trips there with her dad, who made use of the time to buy four-packs from the Spar shop.    

Next meeting on Zoom: Thursday 17 September (Amanda will provide log-in details)

Homework theme: AS or SA.