As mentioned in the previous blog post the fourth Lodestone poetry reading took place at the end of February. It proved to be a real treat of an evening. The Lodestone team, Sarala Estruch, Lesley Sharpe and Dave Wakely have the knack of putting together an interesting mix with never a dull moment. Last Wednesday we heard from Lisa Kiew, Aviva Dautch, Will Harris, Sarah Westcott and Dave Wakely.

I’m just going to single out a few of my personal highlights; Dave’s prose poem in which he imagines a night out with Thom Gunn, Aviva Dautch’s poems about her mother and her habit of hoarding – brave subject matter and poems which felt as if they needed to be written, and Will Harris who read from his phone (there’s brave) poems which will be in his first collection, Rendang, to be published next year. Being brave seemed to be a theme of the evening. I’d been working in London during the day and was supposed to meet up with a friend to go together to Lodestone. The friend got caught up with family matters so I went on my own but of course there were people I knew. The lovely Jill Abram suggested I sit near her, Lesley Sharp produced a pot of tea and I got the chance to talk to other members of the audience. So glad I didn’t miss it. As a ticket holder you get a discount from Waterstones on the evenings books so I came away with Primers Volume Three. It is different reading poems on the page after you have heard them in real life, the poet seems to be next to you reading aloud.