Lazy Person's Poetry Group 2 - Return of the Killer Poetry Group

After the runaway success of the first Lazy Person’s Poetry Group, the members dragged themselves off the sofa to try again. Indeed, our motto could read: If at first you succeed in some form or another, give it another whirl at some point. Only in Latin and that.

The meeting was held on Friday 16th October at the apartment of Ms Katherine Davey in sunny Walthamstow, north London. The poems were chosen by Mr David Cross and Mrs Emma Simon. They were:

Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke and The Excrement Poem by Maxine Cumin (both Mr C)

The Sunlight on the Garden by Louis MacNeice and The Mermaid Tank by Stephen Knight (Mrs S)

Also in attendance were:

Ms Rose Dawson
Mr James Kidd
Dr Dinah Roe
Dr Adam Smyth

Events kicked off optimistically - Ms Davey had pre-arranged food and so everyone was in high spirits as we turned to Rilke…though not for long. A challenge indeed, not least one of translation. Mr Cross kindly brought several versions of the poem (not to mention a suitably hunky headless statue), although the one up for discussion was by Stephen Mitchell. This had also been used in The Bookgroup, where Mr Cross had first heard the poem read. Now as then, much focus lasered onto the final lines: You must change your life. The interpretations varied from the self-help to the creative.

We moved, like a mountain-goat leaping up a sharp incline, nimbly to the MacNeice. Two attitudes diverged in the room: Dr Smyth seemed unhappy with the poem’s finale, feeling it a sell-out; others, including Simon herself, took a more positive stance. This was all done with the utmost refinement, of course, and made for an interesting debate about the poem’s jagged inconsistencies.

The Excrement Poem was scooped up with enthusiasm, read on the whole as a naughty-but-nice interrogation of notions about taste and disgust, what it means to be human and what poetry can achieve when it gets its hands dirty. The Mermaid Tank was similarly unfamiliar to everyone present – it too inspired plentiful, if slightly hasty discussion, not least about what a dugong might be. Luckily Mr Cross had dived into google like an eagle with an eyeful of fish.

It seemed almost impossible to believe that a second meeting had occurred. Speaking for myself, I had been flabbergasted to get as far as one. And yet we left, the verse for poetry (apologies) and ready for a third get-together. See you then.