Worthing poet Cherrie Taylor joins line-up for Chichester open-mic night

Cherrie from Worthing and Geoffrey from Felpham combine to read from their recent joint volume entitled Coffee at Cockburn’s, published by FELWORTHBOOKS at £8.50.

Cherrie said: “This is a book for all who love Sussex as well as all who love collaborative writing, particularly within Japanese short-form poetry. The poems are grounded in the personal and every day, but also provide the sense of a huge journey across time, culture and place. It is a highly original and varied collection – ancient in inspiration and yet also immediate, contemporary. We’ve worked closely on responsive poems over the last three years – mainly Tanka and Rengay. We often met at a favourite tearoom, Cockburn’s in Arundel, to discuss the poems we had been compiling from 2018-9 prior to lockdown. Things were on hold until we could meet up again during 2021. We continued to see each other at poetry groups but the seed of the idea to have our poems together in one collection grew.’

The coast and seashore are important parts of Cherrie’s life. She was told that some of her first words were written in the sand. She has enjoyed writing stories and poetry since childhood. In 2012 she studied creative writing with the Open University and has won prizes for her poetry and short stories. Her work has been published in magazines and anthologies. Geoffrey Winch was born and educated in Reading. Upon retiring from full-time employment he and his wife relocated to Felpham, and he continued working part-time for West Sussex County Council until 2010. Since 1992 his poetry has been published widely in the UK, USA and online. He is currently associated with a number of creative writing groups within West Sussex and reads regularly at Chichester Open Mic. He is the author of six poetry collections including Letting the Road-Dust Settle and Alchemy of Vision (Indigo Dreams); and, most recently, Velocities and Drifts of Winds (Dempsey and Windle).

Open Mic organiser Barry Smith said: “We have a fantastic programme in store in future months, including Claudia Court from Chichester Stanza, Guildford poetry publisher from Dempsey & Windle, Janice Dempsey and Brighton based poet Maria Jastrzebska. Local poets will get the chance to share their own poems in the open mic section of the evening. Our audiences are always very supportive so it’s a great platform for writers to read their own work. We welcome poems on any subject and in any style, comic or serious. There’s no stress or pressure so novices and experts can both feel at home. Just sign up on the door to read. Listeners are equally welcome.”

Open Mic Poetry, 7.30pm, Jan 31, Jubilee Hall, New Park Centre, Chichester.