Cherrie Taylor is Chichester poetry night guest

The author of a new collection entitled Stepping on Shadows (Dempsey & Windle), Cherrie opens the autumn season of poetry evenings which is also set to include the Ted Hughes Award winner Maggie Sawkins, Eastbourne-based Clare Saponia and Patrick Osada, one of the south’s most prolific and respected poets.

After the opening reading when guest poets present their new work, local poets get the chance to share their own poems with a sympathetic audience.

Chichester Poetry director Barry Smith said: “My colleague Joan Secombe and I set up Open Mic Poetry when we retired from teaching and since then it has gone from strength. We’ve had a fabulous mix of poets – some local and some nationally famous – reading their poems to entertain and inspire our audience.

“No two open mics are the same – each one is individually distinct and governed by the topics and moods the poets are currently writing about. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, occasionally very moving and harrowing, the evening is entirely in the hands of those who come along to share the pleasures of poetry.”

This month’s guest poet, Cherrie has enjoyed writing stories and poetry since childhood. Reviewing her book, poet Mandy Pannett said: “This is a textured and varied collection. Cherrie Taylor has a poet’s eye for detail and the ability to evoke scenes and memories that may be personal in content but are tangible to others.”

Cherrie said: “When I looked at the poems I had gathered together for my collection, I saw that shadows were a common thread. Shadow is a word we use to describe how we feel – what happens to us in life – a sadness, but when it passes the shadows lift.

“Some poems do touch on sadness, but many are joyful and quirky and make me laugh. I think the appeal of the poems is that they are easy to understand. This does not mean they are sentimental or too flowery in how they are written, but they have a narrative – a story to tell which people can relate to.

“The poems I have chosen to read at New Park will be a mix of freestyle and traditional poetry forms. Some are poignant, others humorous. Arundel and Chichester in Roman times are historical themes in two poems. One is an imaginary encounter with a Roman runner on Stane Street, the other about a Roman Villa (53 AD) uncovered in Arundel in 1983. In another poem, I will attempt to impersonate a Myna bird called Molly – the only witness to the missing lighthouse keepers on Flannon Isle 1900!"

After the reading by Cherrie, poets will be invited to share their latest poems on any subject and in any style in the open mic section of the evening.