My Night Out with Martin Figura

Yes, Poetry Lovers, you heard right. Martin Figura came to visit us on Sunday night at the Adelaide.

A great night of poetry as Martin blew us away as featured poet. How I’d been longing for him to come to Teddington and he did not disappoint.

It was a night of great poetry all round, with fabulous Anne Warrington, the vibrant Dilly Orme, enigmatic Stephen Harman, hilarious Andrew Evzona, the marvellous Greg Freeman, the talented musician and poet Felicity Buirski and many other wonderful readers.

Not to mention my adorable pal Hannah Stanislaus, Chris Naylor, Connaire Kensit, Carol Wain, Vicki Naylor plus newcomers Sian Mac and Mike Gordon.

We also had the honour of being visited by the wonderful Wendy Young. So nice to meet her in person at last. What an action packed night!

As Martin came on to read the first half of his work, there was an awed hush

Martin started with the very moving and new poem Bear, and already had the room in the palm of his hand. If it was possible to be moved anymore, Martin managed it with the title poem of his latest book My Name is Mercy.

After a priceless 10 minutes of fabulous poetry reading, Martin had a well-deserved break before he came back for the last 10 minutes of the evening.

By the end of the second half, we were ready for more from Martin Figura and he came up trumps with some wonderful, humorous pieces such as Amy’s Lovers, listing all the toys and characters his daughter loves. Followed by a great poem about Edward Heath (once the most unpopular prime minister), and a clever piece about Larkin being stuck at a party with the reader. Fantastic pieces, the room hanging onto every word.

I swooned as Martin read from my favourite book, and the first ever one of his I bought, Boring the Arse off Young People, reading The Trouble with Middle-Aged People…. Brilliant and witty poem.