Jay Lewis

Liz Berry read to us in the summer of 2023. Our Poetry Breakfasts were held at Brooke’s Bistro, ideal for performance and holding a capacity audience of 65.

Despite the major figure that we were hosting, the occasion, as usual, offered the mic to local poets, among them Jay Lewis, drawn across from Bearwood by the headliner’s deserved reputation.

For all the greatness of Berry, Lewis’ poetry held me in equal measure. His long lines contain the complex criticism of the present society, the wit is acerbic, melancholy – and funny. Transcendence, which for me is the sudden recognition of the little that we know, is never missing.

I asked him if he would headline later in the year. To my great joy he agreed. From that occasion onwards a friendship developed, over the booking of artists and the search for suitable venue. That new location we found this year, the Reading Room at Dudley Central Library. We are in the process of devising ways of financing the program – the Local Authority insists that events have to be open to all and therefore free. For us, it is axiomatic that we pay our guest poets properly. Among his other gifts, Jay is proving an adept fundraiser.

The warmth of his stage personality shines through. The Breakfast is where young poets may first read what is a probing of reality; equally there are those who bring a lifetime of verse-writing to an audience – for the first time. Their artistry is strengthened by Jay’s enthusiasm as host and presenter. Jay is a serious thinker, but with microphone in hand, he is a laugh. May he long continue as mainstay of the Saturday Books Poetry Breakfast.