Poetry Breakfast, December 2023

Saturday Books Poetry Breakfast
16th December 2023

Blue Moments at Poetry Breakfast …

Grief and the shock of untimely death are hard things to speak about. In poetry though these tough experiences meet with an audience’s own recollection of suffering, and bereavement becomes shared. Beth Williams’ lyrical verse searches in the nullity that follows loss and discovers the continuance of love, for all the pain, and gratitude for the lives lived. Her first collection, Waiting for the Blue, explores depths of sadness while countering despair. A publication as attractively assembled as her performance, at Dudley Brooke’s Bistro, was crisp and accomplished.

… and Birmingham through the eyes of a bus-traveller.

The second established poet was Al Hutchins, whose recent publication Rebel Admin matched the occasion’s theme of uncertainty, breaking the boundaries of language and stunning us with virtuosity and wit. A truly great morning, a good troupe of open-mic performers whose standards push ever-higher.