Members include: Caroline Cook, Brian Fewster, James Harbour, Stuart Snowden

Caroline Cook

Caroline Cook was born and educated in Leicester.  She went away to study German, French and Swedish, and spent many years teaching.  Strangely, she hasn't written anything about this yet.   She joined Leicester Poetry Society in 2000 and has had work published in several magazines and anthologies.

Bill's Sax

Before the Apocalypse there was Bill,
and Bill played sax.
"Get out your sax, Bill!" they cried.
"Play us a tune!"  And Bill smiled,
and he played.   What ease!  What flow!
Whatever his line, they lapped it, loved it.
"Bill’s playing his sax again," they said,
shaking their heads in feigned disbelief.
"He even plays it in the Oval Office!"

When it all had to stop,
Bill put his sax away and George came,
and George couldn’t play sax.
 

Brian Fewster

Born in Nottingham, studied English at Cambridge. After spending two years on VSO in India, he taught for 25 years in comprehensive schools. He then worked as an IT administrator and technical author, spending part of each week in London. His work has won several prizes and been published in Poetry Review, Envoi, Orbis and elsewhere, and can be seen on his website at http://bfewster.members.gn.apc.org. Poor Tom's Revenge (ISBN 0-9543371-0-7), is a pamphlet selection of his previously published poems. His other main interest is politics. He was the Green Party's lead candidate for the East Midlands in the 2004 European election.

One Step at a Time

You had no hall. Behind the door
of your front room the letters lay
like drifts of decomposing leaves.
You stepped across them twice a day.

You stepped across them twice a day
while junk promotion, final bill
and family tidings cried at you.
The cries ascended small and shrill.

The cries ascended small and shrill
of courts, of creditors to pay.
With steadfastness like Saint Jerome
you turned your conscious mind away.

You turned your conscious mind away,
but some disturbance stirred there still.
A breasting wave blocked out your light.
A shadow paralysed your will.

A shadow paralysed your will.
You turned your conscious mind away.
The cries ascended small and shrill.
You stepped across them twice a day.

James Harbour

James Harbour was born in Chesterfield in 1923.  During the depression his family moved to Kent, where he worked in Snowdown Colliery.  He later became a musician and played drums for Geraldo and others.  In 1959 James trained to become a probation officer and later a counsellor.  He ran a therapeutic community and was responsible for the development of community service in the Liverpool area.   After retiring James worked with the Samaritans in London and later for Leicester Counselling Service and Age Concern.  He likes to paint portraits, write poetry, value his friends and slips easily into the role of professional grandfather.

This old man he played eight

Officially he is let out at eight, precisely.
Then they shut the gate.
Plastic bags forbidden, you could top yourself with these.   Brown paper.
No royal 'coming-out'.   A breath of freedom
blows from the bus stop; a wind
that does nothing to blush
that four year pallor, which he knows 
— everyone knows!
How much does a box of matches cost?
What's a bus pass?

Stuart Snowden

A student at Warwick University in 1970s, Stuart Snowden was already attending Readings by Hugh MacDiarmid and Basil Bunting.   His interest continued in the 1980s in London, where he saw amongst others Alan Ginsberg.  Stuart has had work published in Iota and Poetry Nottingham, and has performed in folk clubs etc.

A Girl for all seasons

When she is melancholy
Autumn cannot match
Her multi-coloured broodings.

When she is angry
Winter's storms and torrents
Unleash before your eyes.

But, when she stands before me,
Naked and loving,
Spring and Summer merge
Burst into bloom
And fill the room with roses.