Join a Poetry Book Club!

Plus our poetry 'daisy chain' share...

Photo by Céline Druguet on Unsplash

Hello again,

A book club solely dedicated to poetry?! Yes please.

I dabbled with this idea last year but it got sidetracked. This year I’d like to give poetry reading more time.

There are book clubs dedicated to non-fiction, self-development, rebel book clubs, slow books clubs, my IRL local book club I joined ten years ago has turned into one of my closest groups of friends. Geeking out over books is THE best. So how about a poetry book club? Don’t tend to hear about many of those.

Poetry deserves a book club, don’t you think? Yes, poetry might be ‘niche,’ but we like being niche, I wanna hang out with the fellow nichers and chat about the poetry we’re reading. Anyone else?

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Does Poetry work for a book club though?

I did debate this. The poetry we all enjoy is SO subjective, poems tend to find us when we need them and I’m sure I’m not alone in dipping in and out of poetry books rather than finishing them in one go.

But here’s what I decided.

There’s nothing to say you can’t still dip in and out of the book. In fact, that’s a selling point for poetry book club - no speed reading the last few chapters to avoid a spoiler. Poetry Book Club will remain slow and low pressure. If you only read one poem from the book all month, that was the poem you were meant to read.

Likewise, there’s a lot to be gained by reading a poetry book cover to cover. The author has created that book as a book, it is a different but equally interesting experience. I’ll be honest, I don’t do this enough so a book club will encourage that.

It will keep us reading poetry regularly, introduce and guide us through poetry we might not have picked up and provide a space to dive into and gush all over the poetry that sets our hearts racing. This is one thing I love about my IRL book club anyway. I hope it will be the same.

Not to mention, that for any of us hoping to improve our poetry writing, reading poetry is one of THE BEST (and possibly most necessary) ways to do so.

Do you even need convincing? I didn’t.

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How will Poetry Pals Book Club work?

This year I am aiming to read twelve poetry books (and write 100 poems).

If you’d like to read along with me I would LOVE that. Every time I think about new poetry books I have to dampen my urge to do a small squeal.

But likewise I am more than happy to do the legwork and you can join in whenever you like. I’ll read the book and report back. As per the goal of writing 100 poems last year, this is fluid and flexible and just about enjoying the act of reading more poetry.

The logistical bit…

• Towards the end of each month I’ll share a book choice for the month ahead (giving enough time for anyone else to buy the book / grab from the library etc)

• On the last Sunday of each month I’ll send out a Book Club Discussion post containing a mini book review (so for anyone who hasn’t / isn’t reading along this can still be of interest), a few starter questions and then hopefully in the comments we can have tons of chat about the book.

• For anyone who wants more, paid subscribers - during the last week of the month we’ll use the book for our virtual Poetry Circle (via Zoom).

  Which doesn’t mean you’ll have to have read it. We might take a theme or a specific poem (which I’ll send out prior) or try out a form that is used. As usual we can read together, discuss, do a spot of writing (if you like), finish with more reading. Usual blend of gorgeously informal, fun, poetry play that gets us all reading and writing more poetry.

  If Book Club grows in future (fingers crossed) then it might be worth having a separate session for book club but for now, let’s stick with this. Otherwise I might be sat on my own with a book in my hand hoping someone will tell me their favourite poems. And that would be awkward.

• When picking books, my preference is for poetry written by women and under-represented groups. I’m also conscious of the balance between bigger and smaller presses (including self published books), though since Substack is virtual and worldwide I’ll need to keep availability in mind.

• I would LOVE to try and get some of the authors to do a live session to talk about their book. That would be dreamy. Again, something to aim towards.

• I’ll put all Poetry Book Club content within the (newly created) - Poetry Library - for future reference.

Ok, that’s the lowdown on book club. Look out for another post on Sunday announcing our first book of the year. My copy arrived a few days ago. Ooooh, it’s a good one!

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Poetry ‘daisy chain’ share…

Last week I asked if we should create a sort of ‘poetry daisy chain’ as our writing prompt. There are now SO many good poems in the chain. Honestly, all week I’ve been noticing it grow but trying not to read it again until I have time to sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy it properly. There’s still time to add a poem and post one for someone else if you want to join in…

For those who have joined in, do you fancy sharing the results? Did you manage to scribble something down? Did the poem you received feel right for you? Had you read it before or was it new to you?

I have ALL the questions, ha.

Please do let us know, whether that be something you’ve written, a link to a poem, a first line you noted on your phone, just a comment about how the experience was. You know how it goes, share anything at all.

Nelly xx