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I love it Andrew! Mythologies and Oranges, I mean.

I think you are my sort of poet.

I think I may be able to work it into the upcoming reading - though I have rather a lot of poems gathered together to make my final selection from - but if not, I'm making damn sure it goes into the next one.

Maths teacher, huh...? I think... yeah... I'm gonna... ruuuuuunn...



I failed abysmally at every sort of mathematics at school. I was in my teens before I could tell the time, even...

I was top of school in English though. Always (and boy! was I big-headed about that!) Not that anyone would believe it now, lol!

Dear Fljotsdale,
Thanks for your warm comments about M&O!
If you can read both, that would be wonderful!
Maybe I could come down to Birmingham ( if invited) and read some more, some time?
Andrew.

If I can work it, I will, Andrew.

Dear Fljotsdale,
When's the reading?
Andrew.

September 22nd. I'd invite you, if I could, but it's The Townswomen's Guild, members only (apart from speaker).

I've got it all put together now. I'm reading 17 poems, and yours is 13th on the list - I do hope you are not superstitious? You are right next to Robert Burns, so you are in good Scottish company.

I'm introducing 3 contemporary poets in the reading, you, a poet called Steve Ellis, who is a lecturer in English at Birmingham University - and me (first time ever!).

The theme of the reading is Let's go Day-Tripping and we begin with a train poem which starts the 'journey' and to which I refer as we move from one location in the British Isles to another.

I thought you might like to see the list, so, in order, the poems are:

Morning Express - Siegfried Sasson
Adlestrop - Edward Thomas
May Day Song for North Oxford - John Betjeman
O Lovliest of Trees - A E Houseman
Bredon Hill - A E Houseman
The Brook - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Short Break - Steve Ellis
The South Country - Hilaire Belloc
Westminster Bridge - W Wordsworth
A Town Window - John Drinkwater
Ludlow Walls - Teresa Kasafir
Afton Water - Robert Burns
Beyond a Concert - Andrew McGeever
The Way Through the Woods - R Kipling
Sea Fever - John Masefield
The Walrus and the Carpenter - Lewis Carroll
The Lake Isle of Innisfree - W B Yeats

Dear Fljotsdale,
I've been honoured by being published beside Natalie Fuhr (Leonard's Guitar) and Leonard Cohen (This isn't China), but to be sandwiched between Rudyard Kipling and Robert Burns is a step too far!!

"and the thin anemones only the keepers see".......

"Flow gently sweet Afton, among thy green braes
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise"....

Good luck with "Ludlow Walls". Your "first time ever" reading will be confident, delicate and strong. Once it's done, the next one will be easier!

Who are the "Townswomen's Guild"? Is it like the W.I. ?

Andrew.

That appears to be a super line-up, going by the titles, Fljotsdale. I love the idea of the train ride carrying you all about the landscape and the various poems. Great idea . As Andrew has said, you'll do a beautiful job with your poem !

~ Lizzy

Andrew McGeever wrote:Dear Fljotsdale,
I've been honoured by being published beside Natalie Fuhr (Leonard's Guitar) and Leonard Cohen (This isn't China), but to be sandwiched between Rudyard Kipling and Robert Burns is a step too far!!

"and the thin anemones only the keepers see".......

"Flow gently sweet Afton, among thy green braes
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise"....

Good luck with "Ludlow Walls". Your "first time ever" reading will be confident, delicate and strong. Once it's done, the next one will be easier!

Who are the "Townswomen's Guild"? Is it like the W.I. ?

Andrew.

LOL! Yes it does look a bit odd when you put it like that! But I assure you that the links make the position of your poem very apt.

Like the WI? Well - sort of, I suppose... only for Townswomen rather than Countrywomen. They get involved in a lot of social stuff, I think. I really don't know much about them.

And thanks to you and lizzytysh for your good wishes regarding my own poem.

Just got back from the poetry reading, Andrew.

You poem went down very well indeed- even though it was between Kipling and Robert Burns!

The whole reading went well, in fact. I seem to be pretty good at getting an audience on my side and on my wavelength. One of my talents. They were a very attentive and enthusiastic audience - apart from one old dear who fell asleep while I was reading Afton Water, lol!

Dear Fljotsdale,
It's good to hear your reading went well !
Congratulations!
How did "Ludlow Walls" go down? This was your first, after all!
As for me, I've only read my own material on a public platform, but that's about to be changed, maybe.
October 21st, Brooklyn, New York: if I don't have a completed poem, plan B is the lyrics of a song. ( There will be no indication from me from now to N.Y. on this board about plan A , or plan B).
I'm pleased you got the audience on your side: not an easy task, and shouldn't be taken for granted, no matter the quality of poetry!
Andrew.
P.S. I'm slightly concerned about that "old dear" who fell asleep.....I presume you rescued her from drowning in Afton Water

I shall be VERY interested to know about plans A and B when you are ready to reveal all. I'm intrigued!

I dunno how it is - but I think I do have a real talent for making an audience relaxed and receptive; so far, anyway! I think it's probably because I'm pretty relaxed myself. Besides which, audiences, generally, WANT you to do well. I've done amateur dramatics in the past, and it is remarkable how the audience affects the actors. A dull, unresponsive audience worries the actors, but a warm, friendly audience brings out the best in the actors. An audience can make a play sparkle or fall flat on it's face. So I know the value of having an audience on my side - they make ME do well!

My poem went down ok - not so well as yours, I have to admit, but well enough. They liked Steve Ellis's poem as well - the other contemporary poet I included in the reading.

Heheh! No, she didn't drown - I think someone poked her in the back, lol!

Plan A is approaching a first draft.....if it's finished I'd be confident about doing A and B.
Three weeks to go.....
Andrew.

Dear Fljotsdale,
It's plan A, confirmed, nailed, in the can!
Yes, I'll read my own work in Brooklyn on October 21st.
I'll tell you about plan B after the event: as regards plan A, it's an occasional poem (unusual for me, yet again, I'm in these circumstances for the first time, and maybe not the last).
Andrew.

Brilliant, Andrew!

I'm certain you will do very well. Wish I could be there to see/hear you.

So do I ~ perhaps, Lightning may be able to find her way there .

That's great news, Andrew ~ Congratulations !

~ Elizabeth