Monthly Archives: June 2020

This poem, by Society member, local artist and writer Mary Gurr, came third in the Folio competition and was published in the Society’s Folio #72 in 2018.

Turkish Delight 

Weaving in and out between
the multifarious eating palaces
on Lark Lane, I settle on Majool - 

dome-shaped copper candle holders
standing proud on turquoise lace
encrusted with pearls

and everything embellished,
drums, balalaikas, my belly propelled
into surreptitious rolls and flicks.
I order hummus and fat black
olives, seduce my senses back
to their old voluptuousness

and finish with Baklava, its sweet
lush sticky on my lips.

Val Reason is a member of the Kent & Sussex Poetry Society who lives in Skewen, in South Wales. This poem was selected for publication in our Folio # 73 in 2019.

Clevedon Cliff

We walk to a tree
poised like a salt-grained statue,
limbs thrust inward
windward trunk to sea.
Its splay-toed roots hold firm
cancelling strain.

The wind-worn stance defies its age
showing tireless grit.
Around it, sea-thrift
like chorus in an ancient play,
bows approval
with pink-clustered heads.

Wind-swept we leave,
seeking shelter in the car.
And watching now I hope
the need to hold
will show itself in me
faced with storms to come. 

On 16th. June starting at 8.00pm you can join us on Zoom for a virtual visit by Katrina Naomi.

Katrina Naomi was born and raised in Margate, Kent and lives in Cornwall.

Her third full collection, Wild Persistence, is just out, published by Seren on 1 June.

Katrina’s poetry has been published in The TLS, on Poems on the Underground and broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. She was the first writer-in-residence at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

She tutors for Arvon, the Poetry School and Ty Newydd, and runs Poetry Surgeries for the Poetry Society.

She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths (her research is on violence in contemporary poetry).

Her poetry has been highly commended in the Forward Prizes and she has received commissions from the BBC, Imperial College and the Turner Contemporary. 

Katrina recently received an an Authors’ Foundation award from the Society of Authors for her work on Wild Persistence.

We look forward to hearing Katrina read and there will be an Open Mic at the beginning of the meeting.

Hope you will be there!