The Pity Of War

Ever since studying their works for A level English, I've been interested in the poets of the First World War. More recently I've read quite a bit of poetry from the Second World War too - and women's poetry from both conflicts, so often overlooked and so much worth the effort to unearth and to read. There's also some excellent prose out there, which looks at the actual and imagined lives of the war poets - such as Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, which I've reread several times.

But last night it was a stage production that fascinated me - Flying Bridge Theatre Company's "Not About Heroes" by Stephen Macdonald at the Savoy in Monmouth, which traced the development of the relationship between Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The play is set during their time at Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh, where Owen had been sent with "shellshock" and to where Sassoon had been shunted after his "Finished With The War" letter (sent to his commanding officer but picked up by the press and read out in Parliament). The emphasis in the play is very much on the development of the two men's poetry but it also examines other aspects of their relationship, including its probable homosexual nature. It's a brilliant and very powerful piece of work; last night was only the second night of the current tour, which runs until the middle of November, so there's still plenty of opportunity to catch a performance. You can find all the details at www.flyingbridgetheatre.co.uk 

Form and Fragments

In interesting morning earlier this week - a tutorial with Angela France looking at less common poetic forms. I was very taken by the "decima" - of Spanish / Portugese origin, it has ten lines of eight syllables and a tight rhyming scheme. Having attempted one or two somewhat unsuccessfully since, I have high regard for the "decimistas" in Latin America who apparently have fast moving "battles" to improvise the form on stage!

Most of the week, however, has been spent by the hospital bedside of a family member. I had thought that my "Fragments" people watching project was coming to a close, but the experience has certainly re-ignited it. Whilst the physical hospital environment has changed dramatically since I began my nursing career many years ago, so much of what goes on within it has not changed at all - dramas great and small are played out, hopes are raised or dashed, families come together or fall out in the highly charged atmosphere that illness imposes. The observer in a hospital ward has a ring-side seat; what more could a writer ask for?

The year moves on ...

The last couple of weeks have passed in a rather manic blur and suddenly autumn seems to be upon us - chilly evenings, mist hanging low over the river in the mornings and the leaves definitely beginning to turn. And, as usual, autumn brings the Gloucestershire Writers' Network event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival - for which we now have our competition winners lined up. I was responsible for collating the entries but didn't read them until after the judging - and then I realised what an onerous task we had set our judges! Not only did we have a very healthy number of entries this year, they were of really excellent quality. But Roy MacFarlane did stirling work with the poetry entries and Lania Knight did a great job on the prose ones. They'll both be reading at the Festival event too, on Sunday October 15th, so it should be a great evening.

Yesterday "Chasing The Horizon", the anthology from our Catchword group in Cirencester, arrived from the printers. Ten of us have contributed a mix of poems and short stories and it makes an interesting and entertaining read. It's available locally and from members of the group. We meet weekly in the hall of Ashcroft Methodist Church, which will be open to all on Saturday as part of the national annual Heritage Open Days event; the anthology will be on sale there too, so, if you're in the Cirencester area, do call in, meet some of us over a coffee and maybe treat yourself to a copy.