Monday 16 May 2011

Meeting Report: 9th May 2011

Members of Hastings Writers’ Group were honoured and delighted to have Richard Evans, award-winning Bexhill poet, as their poetry competition judge on 9th May. Richard provided an engaging start to the evening by reading four of his own poems, three of which were inspired by Hastings Pier.

He then gave deep, detailed feedback on each entry. In first place was Laura O’Brien’s “thought-provoking” ‘Blazon’, which was “played out with irresistible delicacy”. Jill Fricker’s ‘Angel of the North’ took second place: "There is so much which is wonderful about this poem, particularly in terms of technical skill". Mike Walsh was third with his ‘emotionally pure’ ‘Terminus’, which Richard described as “eye-opening in the way poetry should (must) be.” ‘Sea Changes’ by Ezzie Ward came fourth: “the shift in perception from Romantic to cold realist powerfully enacted with the sensually accurate and visually dramatic”.

All winners were extremely well-deserving, and Richard commented on how the group as a whole had evolved as poets, particularly in their use of imagery. He brought the evening to a close with some thought-provoking reflections on this, for example: ‘Poetry deals with the problems of the world with image’ and ‘Imagery is the poet’s secret weapon.’ We are very grateful to him for judging this competition with such expertise and sensitivity.

For enquiries about activities and membership please contact the membership secretary at membership.hwg@gmail.com or visit our website: http://www.hastingswriters.co.uk/

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