Dual Book Launch Review
This World a Hunting Is by Brian Comber and Nothing Louche or Bohemian by Tina Cole & Michael W. Thomas
hosted by Black Pear Press
Sunday 13th April 2025 at the Friends Meeting House, Worcester.
Strolling in past the camellia and leopard’s bane in the garden of the Friends Meeting House, one could be forgiven for thinking this event would likewise be a gentle stroll through the selected poetry of three local authors – an afternoon to soothe the audience as they bathed in the Sunday sunshine beaming down through the high sash windows. It was so much more than that.
A word that came up several times during the afternoon was ‘kaleidoscope’ and that’s what we were given – a lively and eclectic mixture of poetry and personalities that stimulated and moved us so that we left with a shifted lens on life. Many aspects of the afternoon contributed to that experience, including the format. It was a masterstroke to vary the pace and tone – by each poet reading two or three of their poems in each half of the event, by having some of Brian’s poems read with energy and respect by his guest reader, current Poet Laureate of Worcestershire, Freddie Barker, and by finishing with a Q&A with the poets giving the audience chance to participate with unpredictable and searching questions. Even the titles of the works and the explanations given by the poets were striking and out of the ordinary. It was fun too to know that the event was being shared with a ZOOM audience joining us from who knows where.
But mostly it was the poems and poets themselves that gave the event its richness and variety and tenderness. We heard poems of story, such as Brian’s story of Pratik who played and flew and hunched and stepped and then swam out (in Pratik Redux) and of characters, Tina’s Black County Grandma (in The Art of Knitting) and Michael’s Llanelli-born Dad (in Dad in a Morning – December 1962).
We heard stunning imagery such as breath quietened ‘from a drum to a wingbeat’ (in Brian’s Apophenia) and evocative detail as in Tina’s recall of the incidents of childhood – Midland Red buses, Start-rite sandals, gaberdine raincoats (in These I have Loved).
We were taken on a geographical journey from Monte Carlo to Dudley Castle, from the Royal Opera House to Bilston, and on a journey of mood from Brian’s poems of self-confessed ‘gloomy optimism’ laced with playfulness and mystery, through Tina’s memories and dreams, and Michael’s passion and humour.
As ever, the real magic was in what the poets gave of themselves to us and to each other: Brian’s early introduction to poetry by way of an audio cassette of Philip Larkin, his supportive introduction of Freddie the Poet Laureate in which he recognised her dynamic and significant contribution to the cultural life of Worcestershire during her term, his sharing of the fun snippet that he includes the word Heligoland in all his books, Freddie’s evident pleasure in reading what she described as Brian’s intricate and multi-faceted poems. Further delight was provided by the obvious joy of collaboration shown by Tina and Michael who met at a Worcester poetry group and discovered they had attended the same school at the same time and now intertwined their poems of memory and childhood in one book. To complete the package, these rich moments of gift and generosity were wrapped in commitment by hosts, Polly Stretton and Tony Judge from Black Pear Press.
The afternoon unfolded in a rare spirit of attentiveness, honesty and warmth combined with the thrill of witnessing live and organic creative alchemy at work. There is nothing quite like it.
By: Bernie Lynch
What else is going on?
For an incomer to the Worcestershire poetry world, this event was a great opportunity to meet like-minded poetry people and find out what is going on in the area, and there’s lots. Here’s just a taster:
- Script Haven Bookshop, Worcester High Street – hosts a range of poetry/spoken word events (owner Leena Batchelor, former Poet Laureate of Worcestershire)
- Alchemy of Words Festival – Worcester’s newest literary festival 30th May – 7th June
- Dear Listener – monthly spoken word event
- 42 Worcester – strange and spooky spoken word events
- Worcestershire LitFest and Fringe – Festival 8th – 15th June
- SpeakEasy events – poetry and prose from the page to the stage