WOKING WRITERS CIRCLE MEETING on Zoom on 18 February 2021

Attending: Amanda, Greg, Liz, Alan, Heather, Tricia, Melanie, Alix, Carla, Hilary, Sarah DD, Dan, Simon.

News

Carla said she had successfully come through her Phd Viva on Margaret Atwood, and was looking forward to a degree ceremony in December

Greg said Dempsey & Windle was due to publish his debut full poetry collection Marples Must Go! In September. He was very happy to have reached such a milestone before turning 70 …

Alan said that one of his flash fiction stories would be published in the autumn in an anthology, as part of Christopher Fielden’s 81-word story writing challenge

Liz reported that the book group had enjoyed Diary of a Nobody, to the extent of awarding it 7/8 out of 10. The next book group meeting, to discuss Where the Crawdads Sing, will be on 22 March, at 6.45pm.

Readings

Carla read a short and very entertaining piece called Italian Club, which centred on a bingo event, and was half in English and half in Italian.  

Greg read his poem ‘The Jab’, about receiving the Pfizer vaccine in Woking – a nod to the homework subject of Hope.

Melanie read a piece of life writing which she had entered for the Spread the Word competition.This record of an unusual family’s lifestyle included a graphic account of giving birth witnessed from a young child’s point of view.

Tricia’s poem ‘Night Frolics’ contained nature observations such as ducks and herons on an iced-up canal. It was suggested that the lines could easily be converted into three haiku.

Alix returned to her novel, reflecting the theme of Hope. A pregnancy is announced in a bar, and the narrator feels very positive about it: ‘Yes, I thought, I can be this man.’

Heather also read a poem about vaccination, ‘Hope in the Time of Covid’. It was agreed to post Heather’s and Greg’s poems on our website.

Amanda read a piece about the funeral of an 84-year-old aunt who had died from Covid. ‘The Pink Funeral’ reflected the fact that her aunt had departed in a pink coffin, marking the fact that she and her husband were seen in the family and beyond as the ‘Taylor and Burton of their time’. The funeral was in the Midlands, and it was the first time that Amanda had left Surrey since the initial lockdown in March last year … “the drive liberating rather than tedious … the organist blowing on her hands between turning the pages”.   

Alan’s piece of flash fiction, ‘Rebooted’, was about a group of white supremacist thugs planning an armed attack. It involved a purple neck scarf, and a neat twist.

Dan read the first chapter of a current work in progress, a police crime thriller, set in a dystopian, police-state version of Britain. Cabinet ministers are besieged by people outside trying to get in. It had been partly inspired by the storming of the Capitol in the US, he said.   

Hilary read a piece called ‘Disorder in the Home Counties’, involving tree-felling, a neighbour’s bare backside, and a fast-growing camellia – “a blessed curtain of green” – to screen out such sights.

Liz, inspired by Diary of a Nobody, had been digging out some of her old diaries, including one about the sights and sounds of a trip to South Africa in 2005, involving a poem that she didn’t rate, and thoughts on insects and weaver birds. She even shared a diary entry about a long-ago Writers Circle meeting. But we won’t go there …    

Sarah DD gave us an impromptu, meditative poem that was captivating.

Next meeting on Zoom: Thursday 18 March.

Homework theme: Madness