Relish poems to love for simply pure enjoyment in these short monthly informal meetings online on Zoom.

Surely the joy, intimacy, compassion and daring of poetry is an antidote to the news and state of the world these days?

Each month I’ll choose a couple of poems that I find exciting, arresting or just wonderful. In this small group, we’ll read poems and discuss them together as readers and as writers looking at the content, form, poetic techniques, voice, syntax and other stylistic aspects. Then we will write short responses to the poems.

It’s a simple format with two sessions of close reading and discussing poems and two opportunities for writing. We won’t be spending too much time reading back work we’ve written, but we will discuss some reflections on our writing and share extracts in the chat if you wish.

These short sessions are only 45mins to one hour long, a shot in the arm for inspiration, professional development and most importantly a reminder to keep expanding your reading joy, being inspired by great poems, new and old… one of the most enriching things to do in life I think!

It doesn’t matter whether you get published or win prizes or whatever, just bring your love of poetry, words and ideas. It’s really about the simple joy in poetry and creativity.

Top up your monthly inspiration!

Facilitator: Perth poet Cath Drake.
Cath’s poetry collection, The Shaking City (Seren Books, 2020) was longlisted in international Laurel Prize and highly commended in the UK Forward Prize. It followed Sleeping with Rivers, a Poetry Book Society Choice & winner of the Seren/Mslexia poetry prize. Cath has been published widely in anthologies and literary journals in UK, Ireland, US, Europe and Australia, recently including Best of Australian Poems, Poetry Salzburg Review and The Weekend Australian. She has twice been be awarded second place in the international Ginkgo Ecopoetry Prize and also highly commended in this prize. An environmental science graduate, Cath worked for a decade as an environmental scientist, writer and journalist and won awards for her environmental nonfiction writing and broadcasting. Cath is also a mindfulness teacher and she has run The Verandah, quality online poetry events, since 2020.