MINUTES OF THE WOKING WRITERS CIRCLE MEETING of 17 August 2023 at 7.30 PM at St. Mary’s Church Hall, Horsell.

An enjoyable meeting with good spirits in a carbon-neutral (no electricity) setting.  Members assisted each other with personal lighting as the light grew dim.  Simona’s wine and Liz’s nibbles helped the flow.

Present: Liz, Peter (Chair & minutes), Heather, Tricia, Alan, Colette, Nathan, Simona

Introduction and apologies

Colette and Nathan introduced to Heather, Heather, introduced to Colette and Nathan

Apologies from Sarah, Tricia looked in briefly to also apologise due to poorly husband – we send our best wishes.

News

Alan’s short story short listed in Writing Magazine humour competition.

Liz reported her reading group is tackling Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, discussion Monday.

The Readings

Thanks to those able to provide handouts which can help frail minds like mine to absorb the material.

Colette shared two poems, one sensitively tackling mental illness from experience when 21 years old.  Simona, Heather discussed whether humour be mixed with heavy material and the meeting generally agreed that Colette had found a good balance. Liz enjoyed the disinhibited nature of the first poem.

Alan suggested reading a Will Self novel might have useful material while other thought this might be unfair punishment for someone who really hadn’t done any wrong.

Keith brought us two poems, one heavy, one light.

The first was a blunt exposure of incest.  This undressed a difficult topic with a direct, brutal telling of a real situation that had unfortunately occurred.  The discussion circle around whether the message would be more effectively communicated if told more lightly or indirectly.  Heather felt it would be possible to hint at the facts without losing impact.  Alan agreed that an indirect approach doesn’t have to take anything away.  Liz found the piece powerful but wondered if it could be tightened, shortened perhaps.

The mood was lightened by the second poem that we felt skilfully retold a Billy Connolly joke.  Vaseline – always a good topic for innuendo or misdirection.  Heather wondered if rhyming scheme could be made more consistent, but Keith’s spirited rendition certainly made it entertaining.

Heather

Ghost Tree, a lovely, nice and tight poem that conveyed a sense of horror effectively.  Images created by clever, subtle language.  Some thought they detected hints of Betjeman in the palate while others found a pleasant trace of a Robert Frost like acacia floweriness in the background.  The aftertaste was quite pleasing for all.

Alan

The Whistle Blower (Levelling Up) a short story packed with description and character. A rich, convoluted tale in which an overbearing bastard gets his comeuppance.  A little difficult to follow at the pace of reading allowed by the time slot but Alan kindly sent this out to be digested at home, with a glass of something perhaps.

Liz

Betty Vakanie, dance teacher is remembered in Liz’s memoir.  Miss Betty had taught the royal girls and cajoled Liz’s cohort to dance like debutants.  This piece was enjoyed by the ladies present for whom it seemed to conjure similar recollections.  Colette loved it all and found the imagery pleasant . The dancing and feeling that went with it is fondly remembered as a better part of otherwise unenjoyable school days.  Peter found the casual rhyming scheme effective but felt it could benefit from some pruning and would have been improved by more on motorbikes or fishing.

Nathan

Nathan is a thoughtful poet and gave us some clever weaving of art and wordsmithing.

The haiku can get under your skin as this dealing with time seemed to do.  The discussion was how a rigid form can allow the poet free expression.  Time is the perennial theme here and well packed into the seventeen syllables. Alan found it a delicious bundle of imagery.

Peter

Shared a more developed version of Power of Poetry read last month.  The poem has now become a sonnet and it was generally agreed that this was an improvement of the rather over long earlier version.  The shortening of the verse demonstrated how a substantial amount of verbiage can be pruned without losing the idea while, perhaps, making it more digestible.

Sorry for the excess of culinary language in these minutes.  I blame Heather whose Ghost Tree, or rather our reaction to it, started it!

Next month

Chair: Tricia (who volunteered for anything).

Alan: Milk and biscuits.

Heather: Minutes and wine.

Simona: savouries.

The homework: “40 lines is enough”.

Minutes by Peter Morley