MR. BOOKS®
Poetry Competitions & Events
Mr. Books in deep poetic thought!
"....Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't...."
Poetry
MR. BOOKS® is a big fan of poetry in its many forms.
These are some of the events coming up:
Poetry at the shop just turn up anytime we are open to read some out (being videoed for YouTube is optional (and it has been done!)
Poetry at the Pub usually held at the Ivy House pub on the corner of Bordyke and Tonbridge High Street, which is very close to MR. BOOKS and very easy to find. When? on the first Thursday of each month from 8pm;
NEXT ONE: THURSDAY JULY 3rd Summer Special al fresco (that's in the beer garden)...(NB. No August poetry night) then September 4th, October 2nd, Nov 6th, Dec 4th ....
Just turn up armed with your poems, (someone else's would be equally fine) your ears and some money (for the drinks.) Anyone wishing to just come a listen is very welcome. Entry is free and the atmosphere is very relaxed and informal;
the event is totally open mic' with no holes barred so long as it's legal!
Styles ranging from Wordsworth to hip hop! Shakespeare to Sugar Babes!
Poetry at the Fair (West Kent Book Fair, October 26th, 2008) "open mic", similar format to the pub nights with the notable difference of the fantastic acoustics of the Old Big School hall
for dates and details of the fairs...
Coming soon: Poetry at the Barbers shop!
Gerry Stubbs, aged 88, WWII vet, still writing poetry holding his latest book Simply Poetic Pride outside Mr. Books. What an inspiration to us all.
MR. Books is now listed on the Poetry Society web site as a recommended shop for poetry enthusiasts, so it's only fair to link them here. Poetry Society members get 15% discount off poetry and literature books on production of membership card.
Fine Scribes 2007 poetry competition: 1st prize of £100, second prize of
£40 and 3rd prize of £25. All the winners and commended entrants have
been awarded their prizes, well done everyone. The standard and number
of entries were very encouraging. Fine Scribes 3, an anthology of the winning
and commended entries is now available to buy from Mr. Books shop
or by mail order, price £4.95 (plus £2.50 p&p.)
The 2008 competition launched:
Open to UK residents only. Entry is £3.50 per poem (unlimited entries per person) Contact by phone or email for an entry form or just send in poems with cheque or PO made out to Green Arrow Publishing 6 Green Bank, Stacksteads, Bacup, Lancs, OL13 8LQ. Entries should bear a title and be hand written or typed. Max. 40 lines please. Alternatively pay by credit/debit card or cash in
MR. BOOKS Bookshop.
And this is the 2007 winning poem by Emma Harding of Tonbridge:
Heathrow, 5 a.m.
The airport that never sleeps
is sleeping; on plastic seats
shapes are curled under coats
like Vesuvian corpses
felled in transit, faces veiled
as though ashamed at nature’s urges.
Submerged beneath fluorescent
are echoes of footsteps, a phantom
trolley, the lullaby of escalators
that carry no one on their backs,
while endlessly revolving doors
fan flightless wings in the empty air.
The time of your departure
is programmed on every synapse,
yet still you check the ticket wording,
sift handbag muddle for passport leather
in case, somehow, it bailed out
between car park and carpet-lawned hangar.
You try to ignore the parting lovers
who cling in tears beside Departures,
remember the sleeping form you left
two hours ago, mumbling incoherent
at your slapstick exit. No grand farewell
for four days’ absence.
The cabin crew in royal blue
carnival past on well-oiled wheels
disdaining you with bright efficiency.
This rare moment in your life,
the implausibility of flight (yours)
to them a humdrum commonplace.
You drain the dregs of your coffee cup,
pull up your DVT prevention socks,
assemble boarding card and mint imperials
to join the bleary queue. On board soon,
flying backwards through the time zones.
Finger your boarding card. Now, voyager.
Second Prize went to Len Scott for a poem called Cornucopia,
third prize, for the second year running went to Margaret Beston for her poem My Father's Stick.
Copies of Fine Scribes 2005 and 2006, with the winning entries from the 2005/6 competition are still available at £4.95 from the shop, at the fair or by phone or email.
Poetry on the web: feel free to send some verses in for publication on both mrbooks.co.uk and Tonbridgeblog.com
Send them by email to mrbooks@btinternet.com