Stanza Mar Menor

The poets of Stanza Mar Menor met again this morning for the second time in less than week before two of our stalwarts head north. We were fortunate to have another voice around the table. Iarla is in Spain for a week or so and was able to joined us once again.

Douglas as promised brought some new work with him. 'Just a Blip' was written on 7th September after a short sojourn in hospital. It reflects his feelings, written in sonnet form and includes lines as pertinent as 'have I lost all my marbles on the way?' - to hospital - and followed by 'I was alone within my head...'.

The Doppelgänger was next where he paid tribute to the woman 'Returned to now complete old Maggie's task'. I suppose that any Tory risks the sharp edge of his words whether they be female or not! His last line reads 'Alas, I fear the future is much worse.'


On a totally different tack in 'Heroes' he lambasted the producers and script writers for meddling with characters as written with those depicted on screen. He did not like at all what he saw. We agreed with him.

His writings are examples to all of us to write 'what grabs us' and to produce some excellent pieces.

John, is still working on older ones and he asked for feedback on 'The Waking Hours' that was written in 2008. He knew that it was too wordy and needed tightening up. All comments noted and he will produce, hopefully, a better revised edition shortly, which he will circulate. Iarla made a reference to changing older ones as they maybe better to be left alone. Something to consider.

Margaret showed us four pieces instigated by her attending a workshop with Ann Sansom where key words had to be used. A general discussion on the benefits of attending a workshop took place. Margaret felt that she did less well under pressure although her results indicated otherwise with those present. Such ideas foisted upon attendees can produce something different and whether she was satisfied or not she had penned some good lines that easily created images. Well, no surprise there, that's what she does. How about 'in my solitary darkroom/the men who fish stab bright colour/on flimsy film canvas.' We discussed all four at some length although we did not offer that many suggestions. We thought well of her contribution.

We have no idea when we can next meet up and maybe not again this year. As usual the meeting was recorded and David will be sent it. Emails passed to and fro will have to suffice.