Latest News: Inexplicably, all the places for the above Short-Course have now been reserved. I am happy to add names to a waiting list in case anyone drops out, and I can also share details of other courses (with raffles, naturally) later in the year. Do e-mail me on jonathan@midlandcreative.co.uk, if you wish. Up to you. Your choice.
These days, being interested in poetry is to be constantly enticed or distracted by a multiplicity of opportunities such that most of us can barely keep up and are always in danger of collapsing into a heap of despair. However, as the poet, the late David Hart, noted in his poem of the same title, we must be concerned with ‘holding the moment steady‘ so that we can release the poem onto paper (or screen).
To add to David’s suggestion, I offer my own, which is that it is useful to find a purpose and a method for how we engage with the poetry world. Surely we must give all aspects of poetry – the writing, reading of, listening to and speaking poetry – a chance to be of value to us? And we might try, ourselves, to be of value to poetry, to think about how we can carry it on, to give poetry its future.
To discover what I mean, I shall be running a short course in January 2023. A small group of us will consider the writing, reading of, listening to and speaking of poetry. We’ll write some new poems – never doubt it – but we’ll also think about what might happen to those poems, who are they for and how might they be released into the world. Perhaps we’ll speak out loud some ‘previously enjoyed’ poems, or listen to recordings of the same. We’ll be concerned with ‘holding the moment steady’ so that we may feel confident in and around poetry.
As with previous courses I’ve run, there will be some concentration and some larking around, because poetry is serious and fun. There will be plenty of poems to learn from – most of which I hope will be new to participants – and there will be some writing done during each session. There will also be lots of advice about ‘holding the moment steady’. During the last session we’ll have a reading out of work that will hopefully have been created.
‘Holding the moment steady‘ will run on Mondays across January 2023 (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd & 30th) from 19:00 to 21:00 GMT. The Course will run on Zoom and will be limited to twelve places. That’s a nice number. There will be a charge of £125 (i.e. £25 a session) but two places will be non-paying bursary places for those who can’t manage the fee. Bursary places will be given confidentially: simply contact me on the e-mail below.
If this sounds of interest, please get in touch on jonathan@midlandcreative.co.uk. I’d be pleased to tell you more about the course and to hear what you might want from such an enterprise. I can reserve a place and eventually let you know how to pay. The deadline for booking a place is Sunday 3rd December 2022.
Oh, and as with most of my courses these days, we’ll finish with one of my ‘[not] world famous’ poetry raffles with the very highest quality of prizes (within my price range).
Best wishes,
Jonathan
Jonathan Davidson, Poetry Course Tutor/Organiser of Raffles
Jonathan Davidson 
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