Happy National Poetry Day Newbury!

Happy National Poetry Day!

Since 1994, the annual National Poetry Day has engaged millions with poetry through a range of live events and web-based activities for people throughout the country.

We asked award-winning Inkpen nature writer Nicola Chester, who has recently contributed to KIN - An Anthology of Poetry, Story and Art by Women from Romani, Traveller and Nomadic Communities (Salmon Poetry) which launched in Dublin last week, for her pick of go-to verse.

“Poetry means a great deal to me, always has, and I often turn to old favourites such as Gerard Manly Hopkins (I love his wild word play) Seamus Heaney or Edward Thomas.

“Alison Brackenbury is wonderfully lyrical and spellbinding on the rural and Zaffar Kunial’s England’s Green is brilliant and challenging and poignant on making us think, take apart and look at ourselves. Lapwing by Hannah Copley is extraordinary… beautiful, raw & confronting, blending a human character and a bird, ecological & personal grief and love.

“And if I’m allowed one more, my daughter gave me an annotated copy of Skirrid Hill by Owen Sheers which we share a love of!”

Here in the newsroom, our journos are an eclectic bunch - their choices ranged from Tennyson’s epic Charge of the Light Brigade, Sylvia Plath’s Lady Lazarus, and Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty to The Rabbit’s Christmas Carol by Spike Milligan.

Such a variety of poetry is written and read at every level each year - rhyming or free verse, haikus, limericks, sonnets, song lyrics…

The Hub in Hungerford has an informal Poetry Open Mic Night starting at 7pm tonight. If you pen some poetry why not go and share it? £5 entry. Doors open at 6.45pm and there’s a bar available.

Or get down to West Berks Museum between 1pm and 2pm today for a poetry reading and writing workshop with local poet Steve Wallis -it may be worth seeing if there is still space available.

Whatever your bag, pick up some poetry today.