Ledbury: Poems in the Sun

Nicholas Murray reading
at the Shell House Gallery,
Ledbury Poetry Festival, 14th July 2013

I very much enjoyed reading yesterday at the Ledbury Poetry Festival on one of the hottest days of the year so far.  Ledbury deserves its reputation as a delightful, relaxed place for a poetry festival.  I was reading from my Acapulco: New and Selected Poems (Melos) and from my new pamphlet collection of animal poems, the ink on which was barely dry [more information on this new title and how to order available very shortly here].

The audience was particularly responsive and nice to meet, except for the man who had come along to promote his poems, refused to buy any from the poet reading, and began to perform his own poems, unsolicited, to the dispersing audience whose dispersal was thus gently accelerated.  These narcissists are, I suppose, as much a part of the poetry scene as wasps on a hot July day and must be considered part of the fun.

I shall be back next year!