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The November edition of The 1000 Monkeys fell between Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes night , on the 4th. We didn't set either theme (because we don't set themes for The 1000 Monkeys) but of course some spooks and bonfires did turn up, brought by Christine Vial, Claire Booker, Anne Alexander and Tony Watts. We heard some lyrical autumn landscapes by Marek Urbanowicz and a lovely personification of a river by Susan Jordan, and portraits of people — by Audrey Ardern-Jones, family portraits and an ekphrastic poem; from Judith Wozniak a story from Covid times of 'The Collector' and a suspected changeling; by Susan, a lonely neighbour brought to life. Rosie Barrett told of her son’s struggle with Ewing sarcoma, of which he died on 10th November 23 years ago. A story of young love in the 6th Form, from Beth Brooke, and 'A Measured Approach to Ageing' by David Punter spanned the existential problems of lifetimes. There were many more poems, of course, and our video shows all the contributions to this month's hour of poetry from our talented friends.
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We had a high-quality meeting of the 1000 Monkeys group on September 2nd. We were sad that three of the readers on our list had problems and couldn't make it after all, but we'll include them another month, without doubt. Only one reader asked not to be included in the recording — Mantz Yorke read three excellent poems, all so far unpublished, and decided to keep them that way for the moment. The sympathetic and imaginative poem he wrote when Dónall was undergoing his operation was very much appreciated. The recording includes poems from seven other poets. We enjoyed every one of the 45 minutes and we're looking forward to another zoom on Tuesday October 7th — the readers are to be announced soon. In the steamy heat of Surrey on August 7th we had a bumper crop of fifteen poets reading with us. We welcomed them all, in a session packed with good things. We didn't record the meeting, so to tell you about the poems I'm depending on notes I made during the readings. Rather incomplete and scrappy notes, I'm afraid, but here goes... Dónall's introductory poem was 'The Essential Ingredient' — at first sight an unseasonable Christmas poem, but actually quite topical — an account of his sister's recipe for Christmas cake, which of course she baked mid-year and fed for four months with brandy,.which is the essential ingredient of Dónall's title. We were very happy to see Belinda Singleton again, with her three poems.'Two Lists', one for forgetting and the other for remembrance, struck a chord with me — my memory is growing randomly selective these days. And Belinda managed to make a very good poem out of the very annoying phenomenon of local roads closed for weeks for repairs. In her third poem, 'Zeus was rumbled', according to the note I made while I listened! Rod Whitworth was another old friend we were glad to see again after a break. His poem, 'I prefer...', inspired by one by Wislawa Szymborska, is one of my favourites., and 'Trees' was a version of one from his 2024 collection 'My Family and other Birds'. Derek Sellen brought 'Labyrinthitis' to the mix and followed it with memories of another August day, the twenty-first, in 1968, when he was on a cycling holiday and later realised that tanks had entered Prague on that same day. Anne Alexander read 'River Guardian and a poem from Enfield Poets' pamphlet 'Shades of Faulty Hall.' Lorri Pimlott reminded us that however cute robins look, they are actually 'killing machines'! And nature red in tooth and claw — or at least in sting — continued in her poem about pottery wasps. Jeremy Loynes chose two of his poems about people —"Gerald Lives Alone' and 'Jungle'. Perhaps living alone would have been easier for the estranged couple in his second 'Jungle'. Clive Donovan had a zen monk and a cat watching each other in a sand garden, and Tony Hancock, that ironic depressive comedian, asking 'What's the point?' 'Your own particular thunder/no-one else can steal'. and 'Witness it!' Greg Smith visualised 'among the dim lights of television' assembling all the artefacts we need to travel to the afterlife't. He also recalled his Gran's insistence 'Don't count your chickens' (in a villanelle) and a 'Red Grouse'. Carolyn O'Connell looked back on her childhood and asked 'What's the best land to live in?', to which she replied 'Norway'. "It takes forever to get to Waterloo" she complained (in another poem, not travelling from Norway!) David Bleiman, another friend we hadn't seen for a while, had his mind on 'Fossil Foreplay', then gave us a love poem in Scots, and 'The Journal of the Pie Guy ("The audience are cussing and running away...!") Christine Vial read two poems published in South Bank Poetry Magazine: 'Van Morrison is alive and well and playing at Atlantic City' and 'Enjoying the Craic'. Aaron Barschak had a ram's horn to flourish as he performed his 'Poetry as an insurgent act'. Gerald Killingworth — another old friend we welcomed back — has a new collection of his poems, titled Fabric and he read three poems from it: 'Sambridges', 'Trench-foot' and Nan's Pantry'. Daphne Milne, one of the two winners of the Brian Dempsey Memorial pamphlet prize, read 'Indigo Spring' and a poem on neurodiversity. And Peter Wilkinson took us to'Christchurch Lodge' and 'Winlatter Forest'. So in August we were heartened and entertained as always by the variety and the music of our readers' poems. On September 2nd, we'll be zooming again as The 1000 Monkeys, with a new line-up of our poetry friends. As ever, it will be a warming hour of kindly words. We're going to offer to record the poems and may publish the recording here, with the readers' permission. On Tuesday 2nd September we'll hear poems from Lorri Pimlott Tony Watts Rosie Barrett Mantz Yorke Jean Hall Marek Urbanowicz Evanthe Blandy Ray Pool Chrys Salt Jamie Hammond Judith Wozniak Phil Lawder Listeners are important too — we hope you will be able to join us at 7:30 on the 2nd September. If you would like us to send you the links for our events, just email us at [email protected], by the end of Monday 1st September 2025  THE RETURN OF THE 1000 MONKEYSWe had to stop meeting and enjoying everyone's poetry for four months after February's get-together. Dónall became seriously ill at the end of February and it has taken four months for us to emerge from the resulting nightmare of hospitals and operations, It's still not over, but Dónall is well enough to write and to enjoy others' readings, so on Tuesday 1st July we decided we were ready to go back on Zoom, with the readers whom we'd had to disappoint in March. Only two couldn't make it, for different reasons
We were so glad to be back — the kindness and talent of our poetry friends is such an inspiration to us! We had 14 readers and at least as many listeners. Dónall led off — setting a low bar, as he said. His poem about one of the most uncomfortable but funniest experiences he'd had in hospital, 'The Penis Whisperer'. It was a good start to an evening of fun and affection. We had three new readers: Jamie Hammond, Denni Turp and Gary Day, and some old friends returned whom we hadn't seen reading for a while, as well as other old friends who are regular readers. It was great to see among the listeners our dear friend Belinda Singleton, one of Guildford's most talented poets; Marek; Anne Alexander; Rod Whitworth and other excellent poets. Jamie Hammond's 'The Rosebush' was an imaginative ramble through surreal images, and his second poem, 'My Old Life' was a regretful account of changes wrought by 'progress' to the streets and corner shops he remembered from childhood, which we easily related to. Judith Wozniak read from her recent collection, Making Dolmades in Essex, her memories of her late mother-in-law's account of her escape from Russian occupied Poland, and her feeling of always being an alien, were vivid. Judith followed up with one of her own memories from the collection: 'My summer job in Fulgini's ice-cream parlour' which made us smile. Peter Taylor had a lovely landscape poem: 'Things far and near' described rural fields bathed in autumn light. His daughter Helen read it beautifully on his behalf. Claire Booker read 'The king we never had' from her collection A Pocketful of Chalk, and 'Whitsun Kids', a new poem in which we recognised the blend of irritation, exasperation and affection that we feel when we travel in a railway carriage full of high-spirited young people: "We're just upholstery to them, something to bounce the joy off..." Aaron Barschak raised the roof with his poem 'DONALL DON'T DIE!' — in his usual rousing, musical, alliterative, inventive style, studded with amazing puns and images. He named and famed Dónall and positively forbade him to succumb to death. (Dónall has given in and admitted that he has to stay alive forever now!) Daphne Milne read two poems from Behind Prim Suburban Walls, her winning pamphlet for the Brian Dempsey Memorial Competition (just published but not yet back from the printer.) The introductory poem, 'Retreat Road is slightly smug' introduces the characters that her collection gives us in this observant, at times ironic but kindly account of suburban life. 'All year round he walks' is a poem about one of the people she has celebrated there. Mantz Yorke had two subtly political poems: 'Stamps' , a memory of his childhood collection of stamps from colonial countries('windows on the Empire') and 'Potatoes, Donegal' on the Irish potato famine. Christine Vial read 'How to roll a joint on an album sleeve', a poem about 'Blue', which she dedicated to Dónall because it's his favourite Joni Mitchell album. Gary Day's 'The Work of Hands' was a abut a lack of manual dexterity, and 'Sing a Song of Creation' was a canter through the history of the universe, Denni Turp reminded us 'How September is one moment in a life,' And how when we were at school "where all had rubber legs" we were "all praised as good girls". The refrain of her second piece was, 'Repeat, Repeat'. Ray Pool had a poignant story of his failed attempt to revive a cat, and 'A Tale of the Smallest Room', the account of the theft fron Blenheim Castle of a solid gold lavatory! And finally, Jenna Plewes told us that there was 'No Turning Back'. So we closed our meeting at 8:45pm, happy and entertained by friends and a potpourri of their high-quality poetry. Look out for our emails inviting you to read some of your poems, and to join as a listener if you want to meet us again. We'll be zooming with The 1000 Monkeys again on Tuesday 5th August. See you soon when you can meet it -- Janice and Dónall Anniversaries, musicians and waterIt's always interesting to see themes emerging and sometimes coalescing among the poets who attend each meeting of the talented Monkeys. This month saw Holocaust Day directly inspiring poems from Christine Vial, Anne Alexander, Richard Carpenter and Aaron Barschak, and two translations by Timothy Adès of poems by Robert Desnos, who died a victim of the Nazi concentration camps. Richard had an account of a lady who escaped a similar fate in Auschwitz. Aaron's poem was as much about Gaza as about the Holocaust — and about the redefinition of words in our century — genocide; gender, women, vaccines — all politically manipulated. Anne 's 'Peace Gardens' called for peace and justice regardless of race or religion. She and Christine had written their poems to be performed at the opening of a memorial garden in Enfield, as members of the Brondesbury Poetry group. Christine's 'Inked' referred to the forcible tattooing of serial numbers on concentration camp inmates. Derek Sellen celebrated Chopin, with 'Music by the Pianist in Old Age' and told us of a little-known aspect of the life of Schrödinger (of the famous 'cat in a box' theory) — the scandal his libertarian love-life caused when he went to teach in Ireland (where he had fled from Austria) and Princeton University in the USA! Water featured in the poems of Jenna Plewes, who had two poems about fishermen and fish, and Ray Pool had three lyrical poems on river events: an account of the sinking of The Marquess of Granby on the Thames reminded us of that tragic event twenty-one years ago; his portrait of a musician friend who lived beside the same river was a happier memory. Mantz Yorke remembered the Morecambe Bay cocklers who were swept to their death in the rising tide, also 21 years ago, and told of precarious living in 'House of Cards'. The coming of Spring inspired some denial in Christine's 'Bulb' ('the price of growing is just too steep') ... but Tony Watts went for an entertaining rural walk with 'Five Poets on a Walk in the Country'. He also made us smile with 'The Anthropologist' as the subjects of an expert study turned the tables on their observer. Evanthe Blandy gave us a sonnet portrait of 'The Market Trader' and a sympathetic hearing of a monologue by a sufferer from dementia. Rod Whitworth's response to Max Ernst's 'The Petrified City' — the phrase 'eugenic hygenics' occurred to him with echoes of the Nazi era in which Ernst developed his paintings and collages. 'An Answer' was his articulate and poetic response to a Chinese poem, 'The Answer'.
Marek Urbanowicz read three of his previously published poems with very detailed explanations of their context. Unfortunately, my notes were not detailed enough to report accurately on these! But he has provided a comment (see below) to clarify my previously inaccurate account, for which I must apologise to him. The first meeting of The 1000 Monkeys in 2025 came quite late because the first Tuesday fell on the 7th of January. With 12 excellent readers and a good audience of listeners, it was worth waiting for.
Christine Vial started us off with three seasonal poems, most appropriate now that winter has seriously descended on the UK. 'Frosted', first published in Southbank Poetry, was followed by a 'Brief Encounter' under a winter moon, of a 'grieving widow' with a railway level-cross operator who is 'a would-be werewolf' to judged by his hairy hands! 'Fridge' offered 'anti-resolutions' to those who are resolve to carry on enjoying food and drink after Christmas revelry is over! Ray Pool began with a a limerick about 'A Young Man in a Queue' and then followed up Christine's railway theme with 'The Night Mail' — a nod to W H Auden and John Betjeman, and the news that Royal Mail no longer transport mail by rail but use road and air transport instead. 'The Tea Lady' celebrated a lady who catered for the food and drink needs of the band that pianist Ray travelled the UK with, by coach, before he retired. Peter Taylor's poem 'In Flight' was chosen by Claire, his wife, to read on his behalf — a lyrical and thoughtful poem about the flight formations of migrant geese. 'Who flies as leader?' Jenna Plewes rattled windows and doors and bowed cedars down before 'Storm Bert' which hit the UK in November 2024. Her 'Letter to my Husband' was a tender memorial. Peter Wilkinson brought in some Mediterranean sunshine with 'Postcard from Pelion', a vivid 'postcard poem which made all of us wishe we were there. 'The Landlady's Tale' by Gill Learner gave a voice to the kind, sensible village woman who owned the inn where Mary and Joseph found shelter. Her help with the birth of the baby is rewarded in the last lines of the poem. Gill encouraged us to 'Be grateful for the weather' — good advice considering that we can't change it! Tony Watts also rewrote a bible story — in his rewrite of the creation story, Eve is a heroine, and Adam is blamed for creating 'God in Man's image.' 'Skylark' was one of his wonderful sequences about birds. Daphne Milne was still recovering from breaking her ankle and decided to read two of her poems about the walks she can't atke at the moment. 'Grief doesn't heal remembered walikng with her husband. 'A Walk to the Bucket of Blood took us on a walk in the village where Daphne lives. Clive Donovan read 'The First Stone', the opening poem of his new collection, Movement of People. Asking unanswerable questions about who was the first aggressor anong humankind Clive speculated, who first picked up a stone and threw it at another man in a violent quarrel? His second poem, from a previous collection, was equally thought-provoking. Audrey Ardern-Jones gave us a word picture of an eighty-year-old lady who so loved the musical theatre that she always asked 'Play Hello Dolly' and had it played at her funeral. In her ghazal 'Lost Voices' Audrey told of unravelling her own mother's history as an emigrant from Lvov. Greg Smith remembered 'Number 38 The Birches' and surveyed the detritus of the post-Christmas home. Sharron Green's post-Christmas poem was much more cheerful! Sharon reminded us that her open mic event at Solar Sisters in Guildford is on Wednesday 14th January. And finally, Aaron Barschak read 'On Flanders Field Road', a poem he wrote in 2015 about a small football pitch in East Ham where Bobby Charlton trained as a boy. So we started 2025 with a flourish of varied topics and good poems. Our next session will be at 7:30 on February 4th. On Monday 27th January, we'll send out emails to remind you that you can offer to read — just reply if you would like to be included on the list. On Monday 3rd February we'll send you February's link to the event and a list of the readers. To add your name to the list of people who receive these emails, just press the button below. We'll welcome you. — Janice & Dónall
The Day before the Fall in the USA and a Penny for the Guy
Julia Duke brought us vivid pictures of Norwegian life and landscapes in 'Lord of Misrule','National Constitution Day' and 'When the streams come together', which was based on 'Bright Field' by R.S.Thomas. Christine Vial returned to the Autumn theme with 'Jason goes back to university, year 2' and then read a poem based on the tragic facts emerging about the burning down of the Grenfell Tower flats 14 years ago - the public enquiry is in the news now.
Ray Pool read about Shalford watermill, garden bonfires and then became Pam Ayes in 'Strictly Off-Limits'. It was a brilliant parody. Liz Kon's poem was in praise of 'My Elastic Friends'. Judith Wozniak's collection 'Making Dolmades in Essex' was published the same day and she came along to read two poems from the book. There's to be an online launch on Wednesday 27th November and a Torriano Meeting House reading with Dónall as her guest, on Sunday 1st December. Next month we meet on November 5th. We've decided to publish the link here, so that everyone who wants find out how Monkeys feel about fireworks and explosions of the Houses of Parliament and probably a lot of other subjects can find it. This link will open on November 5th at 7:20 for a 7:30 start. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87944122284?pwd=b1jxHH4dri6643GNlGj36APfrsdQp8.1 |
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