What a great way to mark the United Nations 2021 International Women's Day - "Raised Voices", a poetry evening organised by Gloucestershire Poetry Society, in which eighteen local poets read one poem of their own and one by a favourite woman poet. Last year had seen a packed event at a church in Gloucester, but of course this year we had to join in from home - it was no less an occasion for that though. It brought into sharp focus the energy and creativity of women writers from all ages and all corners of the globe and was a really inspiring celebration of their achievements.
Some of the "favourite" poems were by poets I know well - Helen Dunmore, Mary Oliver, Kim Moore - others were new to me. But some of the most memorable poems of the evening for me were ones written by the readers themselves. The contribution of Lucia Daramus - How I Cheat Myself, written in Romany, Spanish and English and centering on homelessness - was electrifying. Katherine Alderman's Widow's Dues was such a poignant tribute to an Irish grandmother. But my favourite had to be Cathy Baker's Borrowing A Mother, a remembrance of all the women involved in her growing up; it made me think of all the women who in so many ways made me who and what I am, and to whom I owe so very much.
