Reading on Perception (2): 'The World Around Us' (E6), Saturday 14th November 2020, 3-4pm
Our host for this event is Patricia Debney
In perceiving the world around us, how do we reconcile what we see and encounter with our understanding, our feelings and our beliefs? Rebecca Watts’ poems describe ‘a world of contingency, both fragile and beguiling’ ‘Formally elegant and precise, Watts's lyrical voice is vividly lit, and richly evocative. Red Gloves is a deeply moving collection, profound and insightful: a true tonic for these superficial, facile times’ (Neil Rollinson). Mina Gorji’s Art of Escape is understated and has a beautiful clarity of form…a wonderful debut from a poet whose craft is delicate and complex, and who feels instinctively the manifold connectedness of life.’ (Séan Hewitt). Whether poems on the lives of insects and plants, oron the emigrant's journey from Iran to England, the poet brings them into intense focus. Andre Mangeot’s Blood Rain is a telling meditation on what we’re doing to the planet and ourselves. Lyrical and allusive, ranging from the personal to the global, the sequence explores environmental degradation and climate change, serving as a compendium of our current crisis. Claire Crowther’s collection Solar Cruise (Shearsman) deals with science through a passionate personal lens inspired by her husband’s, Professor Keith Barnham, research devoted to the development of solar power. ‘These poems perpetually test the ability of science-language to infiltrate the lyric…Crowther’s poem are fizzily cerebral, wordplay-avid, both sensuous and ratiocinative. (Vidyan Ravinthiran, PBS Bulletin)
Image credit: Henny Beaumont, Festival Artist in residence 2020
