From Bolton to Brantwood, Hoadfest
to Swarthmoor Hall and Jane’s farm, Kirkby Lonsdale the
summer of 2013 proved to be one of creative writing workshops, talks poetry
readings – and swims!
“WALKING STORIES” - SOAKED BOOTS,
PUDDLE-JUMPING AND A LOT OF LAUGHS:
It started
with a full day creative writing workshop at Jane’s farm, near Kirkby Lonsdale.
New York poet George Wallace came over for a couple of weeks in August to
co-tutor on workshops, share readings and give a talk or two. As I say, the first one was at the farn,
tucked away between Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal, on quiet back lanes up in the
dales. George arrived on the Friday and was plunged straight into the 10-day
tour, literally plunged as it poured down all day.
He led the group in the
morning, inside the farmhouse, beside a roaring log fire in the wood burning stove. Outside
the rain lashed it down. I took the group outdoors for the afternoon session,
persuading George to join us. ‘Crazy! You guys are crazy! It’s RAINing and you
are WALKing outSIDE!?”
Yeah, come
on! It’s fun! Apart from being galloped up to by inquisitive cattle and a
frisky horse, we were fine, plodging through puddles and over the
bracken-soaked hillside. I had the idea of reading a poem while we were
outside, ‘Rain at Birdoswald’ by Frances Horowitz… beautifully read by Barbara,
although the paper was soggy by the time she’d finished.
So, after
going native the first day, George was then shown the sights of Morecambe Bay,
wading into the mud, barefoot, eating samphire. my husband Geoff, Roy-dog and I showed him
around Walney, where George Fox landed in the 1600’s only to be stoned by the
inhabitants of Walney. We picked blackberries in the sunshine at North Scale,
went to South Walney Nature Reserve and next day visited Sedbergh and Briggflatts – "have you read
Basil Bunting’s poem of that name? No? Here it is!"
BRIGGFLATTS, A PLACE AND TIME OF QUIET REFLECTION
One of our breathing spaces between the busy schedule was a visit to Briggflatts Quaker Meeting House, a
tranquil setting in the valley bottom. What struck me about it was the sense of many people's hands rubbing the warmed smooth wooden rails and banister; the embroidered tapestries, old maps showing places Fox visited on his journey North-of-the-Sands. The garden, too, a place settled in pollen-dusted time, a place of calm to reflect on busy times behind and ahead.
It's a place down in the valley in contrast to the long climb up a single track lane to Firbank Fell and Fox’s Pulpit, where Fox sat outside while the preaching went on in the church. Until people left the church and came and joined Fox, outside - over a thousand of them, up there on the peaceful fellside, reached through a farmyard that's roped off at milking-time.
All grist
to the mill for George’s talk on Whitman and Fox the following Tuesday at
Swarthmoor Hall.
“George
Fox Stands for Something” - Walt Whitman
Over 40
people came to the talk on a clear sunny August evening at Swarthmoor Hall. It
was my first public event as writer-in-residence at the Hall and I enjoyed
sharing my poem ‘Walt’ as part of the introduction to George’s energising riff
of the links between Fox and Whitman, the Beats and contemporary poets.
Fox
visited Long Island a few times, accompanying William Penn, preaching at Oyster
Bay, Flushing, Riverhead and on into Connecticut. Whitman’s mother was a Quaker
and more than one person has written about the links between Whitman’s poetry
and the vision of George Fox.
Whitman
himself said this about Fox:
"George
Fox stands for something too—a thought—the thought that wakes in silent
hours—perhaps the deepest, most eternal thought latent in the human soul. This
is the thought of God, merged in the thoughts of moral right and the
immortality of identity. Great, great is this thought—aye, greater than all
else.” - Walt Whitman
Living Light
An
energising talk on the spirit, or light, or ‘holiness’ – whatever name you want
to give it – within, George ended his talk with Allen Ginsberg’s poem
‘Sunflower Sutra’, extract here:
“So I grabbed up the
skeleton thick sunflower and stuck
it at my side like a
scepter,
and deliver my sermon to my
soul, and Jack's soul
too, and anyone who'll
listen,
--We're not our skin of
grime, we're not our dread
bleak dusty imageless
locomotive, we're all
beautiful golden sunflowers
inside, we're blessed
by our own seed &
golden hairy naked
accomplishment-bodies
growing into mad black
formal sunflowers in the
sunset, spied on by our
eyes under the shadow of
the mad locomotive
riverbank sunset Frisco
hilly tincan evening
sitdown vision.”
"Living Words" Spring 2014 sees me leading four creative writing workshops at Swarthmoor Hall, starting on Sunday March 23rd 2-5pm, June 29th, September 14th and November 16th (Please contact Jane at the Hall for more details)
JULIE LAMARA AND HELEN ROMANISZYN,
BOLTON MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES, BANK STREET WRITERS, ROD RIESCO
Wednesday
morning saw us head off to Bolton for a visit to the Bolton Museum and Archives
to meet the wonderfully attentive and accommodating Julie, to show us the
collection of Whitman memorabilia. You can read a little about the visit here:
And of the
links between Whitman and Bolton here, courtesy of Paul Salveson:
We enjoyed
an afternoon of creative writing with the Bank Street Writers and our host Rod
Riesco, much laughter and clapping at some of the extracts George and I read,
including a poem by Vachel Lindsay, which George suddenly sprung on me to read!
I thought oh well here goes, give it some welly! I loved reading it, wow!
Wished I’d written it:
Here’s
some extracts, I think I may have added an extra toot or two when I read it:
“I am the
kalliyope, kallyope, kalliyope.
Hoot toot,
hoot toot, hoot toot, hoot toot
Willy willy
willy wah HOO!
I am the
kallyope, kallyope, kallyope
Hoot toot,
hoot toot, hoot toot, hoot toot,
Willy willy
willy wah HOO!
Sizz, fizz.”
I am the
kallyope, kallyope, kallyope,
Hoot, toot,
hoot, toot,
Whoop whoop
whoop whoop
Willy willy
willy wah HOO!”
“I am the
kallyope, kallyope, kallyope
Tooting
hope, tooting hope, tooting hope, tooting hope
Willy willy
willy wah HOO!
Hoot, toot,
hoot, toot, hoot, toot, hoot, toot,
Whoop
whoop, whoop whoop,
Whoop
whoop, whoop whoop,
Willy willy
willy wah HOOl
Sizz,
fizz.”
AND THE MOON ROSE, PINK AND GOLD –
HOADFEST 2013
Thursday
was the Poetry in the Park event at The Coach House Café, Ford Park, Ulverston.
Another evening of sunshine, a full moon later, bats flickering and clicking
and Hoad monument lit up as it grew dark. A crowd of around 40 people joined us
on the rooftop terrace – too lovely an evening to read inside. We called it
HoadFest and plan another event in June 2014 – watch this space!
Ann Wilson
wowed us with her warmth, wit and offbeat charm – love you Ann! George belted
and pelted the night sky with New York electricity and dazzle and all those who
signed up for the open mic performed brilliantly, engaging the audience,
drawing us all in…. I paused before I read one of my poems and pointed at the
moon – as you do, in the middle of a reading – but hey! It was rising, the
moon, not the reading, pink and gold and full, a bubble in the east. Look at the
MOON! All turned their heads, wowed and ooh-ed as Ann said ‘c’mon! let’s all
howl at the moon, after three one two THREE! A-WHOOOOOOOO A WHOOOOO!
Then it
was back to poetry. Oh, I forgot to mention we waved at people scrambling down
Hoad’s in the dusk.
A Long
Island newspaper picked up on the Evening Mail’s spread about the poetry
reading on the roof:
SENSE AND PLACE, WEEKEND POETRY
COURSE, BRANTWOOD, CONISTON, CUMBRIA
So, a deep
breath before setting off to Brantwood the following morning, Friday, to
co-tutor a poetry course ‘Sense and Place at the wonderful Brantwood, home of
John Ruskin. (Yes, I have to pinch myself, typing this, that we fitted so much
into a short space of time).
Remarkably
the weather held and I packed my swimming costume – ever the optimist – I
was fortunate to have two other keen swimmers on the course that George and I
co-tutored. Imagine, poetry not only inside Brantwood, in the Schoolroom,
but having all those beautiful grounds to wander in, down to the lake through
the herb garden; up to the Professor’s garden, Painter’s Glade, Ruskin’s Pond and
the Lodge itself where the participants stayed – and did I mention the food!?
No? Well, check out Jumping Jenny’s restaurant and you’ll see what a perfect
place Brantwood is for inspiration, food for the soul and body.
One of the highlights of our time at Brantwood, apart from early evening and morning swims, was the outdoor writing session or 'point to point' as george calls it. This is where writing is done in response to the outdoors, the physical world around us, engaging with sense, writing a plein air 'in the moment' at a pre-chosen set of stopping points. Describing what you see, hear, feel, taste, touch and smell. Choose some particular object and simply describe it. What is it? What is it not? What does it remind you of? What are its associations for you? After this session comes time for quiet writing and reflection, sharing what's been written during the evening poetry reading.
A lively and enthusiastic group of nine,
plus a couple of their partners came along, too, for bike rides and fell walks,
and it made for a party-time atmosphere from Friday afternoon through ‘til
Sunday lunch. Big thank you to Rachel at Brantwood and also to the participants.
If you
missed this year’s creative writing courses at Brantwood, don’t worry, we’ll back next June
and November for more. Co-tutoring with George June 21st-23rd
2014 and a Writers Retreat November 7th-9th 2014 with me,
and a guest poet (to be confirmed).
I’ve
already collected in some of the poems and photos written in response to the
weekend and will share them with the group only, to
celebrate a weekend of camaraderie and creativity at Brantwood, a very special
way to end a wonderful 10-day August ride on the Kallyope.
And if all this wasn't enough, after George returned home to New York, on August 31st I read in the Chapter House, Furness Abbey, part of the brilliantly organised Medieval Fair - thanks to English Heritage and Gill Jepson, another local writer (check out her 'Out of Time' series of adventure books)
Dates for
your Diary for 2013/2014:
GERALDINE GREEN - POETRY READINGS,
WORKSHOPS AND TALKS 2013-2014:
2013:
September:
21st
– ‘Write to Roam’ Creative Writing Workshop
Jane’s farm 1030am-430pm
October:
10th-13th
SOMW (Society of Medical Writers) Coalbrookdale Shropshire creative writing
workshop and reading: "History and Natural History"
19th
– ‘Write to Roam’
27th
Florence Arts centre, Egremont, Creative Writing Workshop
31st
– Bookends Carlisle, poetry reading with Josephine Dickinson & Kim Moore
November:
23rd
– ‘Write to Roam’
December:
2014
January 25th - poetry reading and open mic: Brewery Arts Kendal m/c Ann Wilson
February/March/April/May/June: - ‘Write to Roam’ Jane’s Farm dates to
be confirmed
March: ‘Living Words’ Swarthmoor Hall
Creative Writing Workshops
2-5pm
March 23rd, June 29th, Sept
14th, Nov 16th
June 25th: joint
reading/talk with George Wallace
June 29th: creative writing
workshop
April:
‘Write to
Roam’
May:
‘Write to
Roam’
June:
6th-8th
Women out West – Judith Jones
21st-23rd
– Brantwood creative writing workshop:
co-tutoring with George Wallace
25th
Swarthmoor Hall: talk/reading with George Wallace
28th
– ‘Write to Roam’ co-tutoring with George Wallace
28th
– George reading at Brewery Arts Kendal m/c Ann Wilson
29th 'Living Words' creative writing workshop Swarthmoor Hall
July: New York Poetry Tour:
Long Island:
Sat 12th
2-5pm Workshop Walt Whitman Birthplace Association
Mon 14th
7pm reading Oceanside Gazebo
Fri 18th
8pm Huntington Poetry Barn
New York City:
Sun 20th
4pm reading Parkside Lounge NYC
Upstate New York:
Mon 21st
8pm reading Harmony Café Woodstock
Tues
22-Thurs 24th Bright Hill Centre, Bertha Rogers, Treadwell
August:
September:
October:
November:
7th-9th
Writing Retreat Brantwood
December:
My next
collection ‘Salt Road’ will be published this autumn by Indigo Dreams, if
anyone would like to book me for a reading, workshop or join me in launching ‘Salt
Road’ please let me know, thanks.
all photos posted copyright Geraldine Green. Cover of 'Salt Road' courtesy of Ronnie Goodyear, ed. Indigo Dreams Pubs.
