WINTER '20 WORKSHOP              the LANSDOWN POETS

Winter, a green and ginger lady, her armoury of snap, her blanket of sleep, her whelk of decay, her tenderness to budding. And so the poets move! To budding!

Rachel, travelling across NZ, expecting her first child 'pregnant with all sorts of possibility and poignancy'  (Notes) 'I am a thirst/ buoyed up by wonder/ hungry for more'.

David P 'Poem for my Grand-daughter' marks her '...adventure-hungry view/ your this and that, your sharp discrimination...it is the desire, the avidity/ always to know more than you did'. It is a child's growth – a simple complex thing. And the poem is part of the poet's own budding. '...what do I wonder?'

Gillie explores her own child self with the 'heart's longing for growth'.

Memory is the colours and scents of rosemary and how she cut it up. Alive all this! Renewal at the solstice.

And cut to India to Maithreyi. 'The poem was written as the rain was thrashing against the window of my childhood room.' (Notes) 'Monsoon – the sea possessed - renewal - release - sapphire-blue water!

And to Tim – a Pan for all seasons – Cornwall. 'perhaps you will find me/ Lotus-folded on Zennor Head/ spellbound by the blazing red/ of the setting sun.' Grounded, mystic, elusive – like The Scholar Gypsy.

The growth of relationship 1

Tony is US/UK. A vigorous shake of images in patterns almost impossible to decipher. The notes help. 'But I found both countries troubled. Statecraft a series of dirty tricks'. 'The trees are crazy.' 'The trees etched scribble/ South of the real tree.' 'Ideogram at Heathrow'.

The growth of relationship 2

To America and Greece. 'Aristotle in the world of contemporary tech.''...a parallel of intellectual energy and originality'. Richard's notes. Places of culture and time opposed. 'Harry S. Totle' 'Protege of Jimmy Plato/ CEO of ACADEMUS'. Fun. Makes you want to read these guys.

The growth of relationship 3

'Horse and Rider' – David C 'The quality and intensity of rapport.' 'The delicacy of performance.' (Notes) 'Rocking slightly, tonguing his bit, breathing heavily.' The rhythm of dressage movement dances the poem.

The growth of relationship 4

Peter  in 'Two' with his companion, relating to two planets. '...down an alley in space/ time' ...'we looked...out there'. Such an arch of a  connection. Of here and there.

Mine [Charles] is a story that I loved telling in my own voice.

And so we arrive at winter. 'A Frosty Morning' Pete. Which is frost/ snow and the melodic influence of Robert Frost. 'I wonder how long the snow will last.' Winter music.

And so

despite

no visits

no hugs

no face-to face chats

a terrible sickness across the land

isolation

shall we remember David W's robust tradition stretching back years?

'Up on the mountain, I don’t care./ I prefer to be alone.'      

Charles Thompson