Discovery is the dividend of reading. Poems about discovery can be our best reminder of the desirability of living here and now: these poems, at their best, celebrate noticing what just happened (on or off the page) and stopping to drink it in. Elizabeth Bishop can make you think that you have never really seen a fish before, John Ormond that you have not thought thoroughly about the builders of cathedrals. Every time, the poet is at least one step ahead of us, or even on a path we’ve never taken. The result may be renewal as well as newness, which is what W H Auden meant when he hoped his reader would say, “Of course, I knew that all the time but never realized it before.” 

And for writers of poetry, to be caught on the wing by a poet’s moment of grace or irony or surprise is to see that such a moment is simply a translation of what they had themselves stumbled on. So Ivan Lalíc finds communion with a young woman visited by Vesuvius in Pompeii, William Carlos Williams discovers the taste of cold plums, Philip Larkin listens to trees. Their discoveries need not be envied, because they have gifted each one to us, and we get to live twice over and over again.

Berryman, Bishop, Causley, cummings, Dante, Dickinson, Farjeon, Hardy, Heath-Stubbs, Hirshfield, F Horowitz. Jamie, Kay, Kinnell, Lalíc, Larkin, Lawrence, Millay, Ormond, Stafford.

These sessions are always focussed and informal. Everyone can feel free to express their thoughts and feelings about the poems as they want to. A lot of ground gets covered, poems and readers come alive, and friends are quickly made of the poets and each other. 

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The Lamb’s very good lunch menu is a click away here at https://www.thelamblondon.com/food-drinks

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