Another glorious weekend - a real treat to bask in the sunshine in my garden and make time to read poetry magazines (Mslexia and the newly created Artemispoetry from 2nd Light Publications). I’ve even managed to produce a few lines that might eventually turn into a completed poem, though I doubt I’ll have much time for the next few days when my head will be full of work stuff.

Anyway, getting back to the subject of my poetry ‘career’ -as I’ve said in my post, Cannon Poets, and what this led to , I was invited by Don Barnard from the Cannon Poets writing group to be the fourth member of what soon was named Late Shift. The four of us first met together in a pub in Oxford. The other three were all experienced writers and performers of their work. I’d never heard of a Poetry Slam before, but it soon became clear that you have to have nerves of steel to take part in one of these events – a knock-out competition, in which the poets who’d gained the loudest and longest applause for their opening offerings would move on to the next round, while the others would retire to their seats in disappointment.

Both Rob Evans and Don were experienced Slammers, and accustomed to winning. Susan Utting had already been published, taught creative writing at Reading University and often gave readings of her own. And I was being invited to be a part of this group!

The last time I’d been on a stage I was six years old, playing the Angel Gabriel in the school nativity in a church hall packed with proud parents. Gabriel was the main part in that version of the story. A singing part! But that was before self-consciousness took over control of my voice and my gestures. Throughout my years at the convent boarding school I was never chosen for a speaking part in any performance. To be fair, I never put myself forward for auditions, though somewhere deep down, I wanted to be thrust onto the stage, and miraculously discover (or even re-discover) a talent for acting.

Unsurprisingly, Clarissa did have this talent in full measure. She made a superb Earnest in Oscar Wilde’s Importance of being Earnest, complete with dapper moustache.

1. Late shift’s formula for success | ChristineColeman.net Says:
   June 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm

   [...] Talking about planning takes me back to what I was talking about in my last post, How the Poetry Group, Late Shift, was Created. [...]