Tuesday 11 January 2011

Poetry Session on Jan 7, 2011

The next session will be to read from the novel Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya on Feb 4, 2011.

This was the first session of the year, and even more provocative than usual. Perhaps we were all in capital form after year-end celebrations. Milton caused the most uproar. But here we are at the end, as smiling and happy a crowd as ever, brimming with poetry:

KumKum, Amita, Indira, Talitha, Mrs Sheila Cherian, Zakia, Minu, & Joe kneeling

 A record of sorts was established in our poetry appreciation. We have commented at greater length on a poet than ever before; Milton was responsible for an outpouring of 2,646 words in the proceedings! The discussion continued online much beyond the date of our reading.

We were happy to welcome Mrs Sheila Cherian, Talitha's mom, who was holidaying in Fort Kochi with her daughter. She normally resides in cool Coonoor.

The international roster of poets recited was not unusual – 3 from England (Milton, Larkin, and Farjeon), 1 from Nigeria (Okara), 1 from China (Li Bai), 1 from India (Seth), 2 from USA (Dickinson, Pound), and 1 from Guyana (Nichols), though she is domiciled in England.


Mrs Cherian,, KumKum, Amita, Indira, & Talitha back to camera

You may read here a full account of the proceedings with all the discussions and the text of the poems. Or you may read it below