Open Mic Poets’ Corner
Being Different/Being the Difference
This is an opportunity to share and listen to different ideas and experiences, and to consider how we can make a positive difference to the lives of others.
Feel free to bring your own poetry or your favourite poem by someone else on this theme.
It might be a poem about being different, as with Jenny Joseph’s ‘Warning’ –
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
Or it might be a poem about an individual who makes an heroic contribution to his community, such as Horatius in Macaulay’s poem, singlehandedly defending one of Rome’s bridges against the Etruscan king, Lars Porsena, and his invading army.
Or maybe it’s poem about the difference someone makes to another’s life, like Wordworth’s ‘She dwelt among the untrodden ways’ (The Lost Love) –
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and O
The difference to me!
Hosted by writer & event organiser, Steve Harvey. In October, Steve is running a memoir-writing workshop on the Scottish Isle of Iona: www.argyllhoteliona.co.uk
Presented by Helmsley Literary Festival
