Memory Corner

Hello Poetry Lovers

Yes, we’ve taken the Reliant back to Memory Corner.

Why is it that the prospect of a new year makes you hark back to an old one? 

I’m thinking of 2019. That was a very good year for poetry. I was very prolific performance wise. And naive, well we all were. Nobody anticipated the blow of lockdown early into 2020. Where we realised how much we took for granted. Did I foolishly once say that 2020 was going to be a good year?! I think I did! Hands up if you did the same.

This is a collage of events;

Sadly, a few of these aren’t around anymore. The Troubadour, once a prestigious place for poetry, is no longer in the equation. Cranleigh Arts Festival looks like making a return though, and hopefully, Celine’s Salon. Dorking is Talking, a marvellous project, would be welcomed back with open arms. The Slip-off Festival and Poem-a-thon were one-offs, so we’ll let them go with love. Fantastic events.

This is not to say I haven’t had good years before and since. 2023, for instance, gave my first foray into a fringe festival with The Booming Lovelies. An exhilarating experience, and I’m confident of other things to come.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me, PL’s. You have fairly recent memories yourself, I know. Now, if you all get in an orderly queue, the reliant will take you back to the present day. No pushing!!