There is never enough time.
I wanted to write something about National Poetry Day, but by the time I had put half a blog post put together, it was over for another year.
I wanted to write about World Book Day, but I never managed to write more than an opening line.
I thought, never mind, next year I’ll find the time, make the time. Somehow. In another year the kids will be used to being neglected practically looking after themselves…right?
Almost grown-up…right?
They are reading ‘Five Minutes Peace’, which it was. Bliss.
And so life carried on in all its hectic busyness.
Poetry and tea
Then a couple of nights ago I visited the lovely Bar Des Arts in Guildford. In this contemporary cocktail bar on the third Tuesday of each month Donall Dempsey and Janice Windle host a pop-up poetry event which features a mixture of established and amateur poets. Tuesday’s ‘headliners’ were Wendy Klein and Dorothy Yamamoto, who read poetry about roots and family matters. (It seems they regularly pair up to give readings. I particularly enjoyed Wendy Klein’s poems, though both were very good.)
Wendy Klein and Dorothy Yamamoto reading their set.
After a very pleasant evening spent drinking tea and listening to the poets, (and not changing nappies or soothing tired children to sleep,) I was reminded that every day can be a poetry day or a book filled day, and although I missed the calendared time-for-everyone-to-make-a-fuss days, I’m going to celebrate today by sharing a couple of my favourite things.
The night will never stay
When I was younger – and I mean much younger, in my tweens, I think – I loved this poem by Eleanor Farjeon so much that I memorised it, and I can still remember it word for word today:
The night will never stay
The night will still go by
though with a million stars
you pin it to the sky.
Though you bind it with the blowing wind
and buckle it with the moon
the night will slip away
like sorrow or a tune.
I still find something soothing about this poem even today, perhaps because of its confidence and simple truth.
“I’m wondering what to read next.” Matilda said. “I’ve finished all the children’s books.â€
Choosing a book to share is trickier. Perhaps because I’ve never memorised a book? My favourites change over time and I’ve more often been disappointed on a subsequent reading (hello ‘Sophie’s World’!) than charmed afresh. So I’m going to step even further back in time and share a couple of childhood classics that I’m already looking forward to introducing my own children to. This makes perfect sense to me as if you’re going to be bitten by the reading bug, it’s most likely to happen in childhood.
Geeky but cool.
Fantastically awful…compelling reading!
Yes, you can’t go wrong with a spot of Roald Dahl. * His books made perfect reading material when I was growing out of Enid Blyton and before I discovered Sweet Valley High, and as recently as a few years ago I still enjoyed reading snippets over my students’ shoulders during their silent reading periods. ‘Matilda’ is a particular gift for the bookish:
 “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.â€
So regardless of the date, let’s celebrate poems, stories and all the other words inbetween. What are your childhood favourites? What are your current favourites? There’s not always time to savour an evening dedicated to the spoken or written word, but there’s usually a few minutes each day we can snatch to read, to listen and to just enjoy words.