Not Too Poetry

Saturday 21 March 2026

This years theme is Poetry as a Bridge for Peace and Inclusion.

We’re marking this years poetry day a little early on 19 March at Hanwell Communuity Library. 7 pm start.

Details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poetry-in-the-round-at-hanwell-community-library-tickets-1982353024259?aff=oddtdtcreator

On the subject of bridges…

Bending, not broken

The arc is long and it bends towards –

and then away and seems to circumvent the gateway to better, to truer and rather it dips and, for some unfathomable reason, detours through bone aching drivel which we sit through lest we cause offence and in defence we smile until someone offers a glass and we can distract the conversation to something real and relevant and alive – preferably with alcohol.

The arc is long and it bends towards –

and then it rainbows, so you’d think that there’d be no excuse but to look up and wonder at the way in which each colour blends, leaving no distinct edge, no start or finish, leaving you in no doubt why spectrum is an apt term to capture diversity with harmony, and leaving you staring gormlessly while the world walks on, heads down, focusing on the familiarity of their grey, woollen comfort zones.

The arc is long and it bends towards –

the other side, it crosses divides, where bridges were long fractured, and diversions had left the land desolate – now we can repopulate, reconnect and proliferate something that binds a kindlier fraternity wedded to justice indiscriminately.

The arc is long,
bending, not broken.

[Martin Luther King Jnr: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”]

Read more about WPD at https://www.unesco.org/ar/days/poetry

“Poetry is an intimate, subjective form of expression that opens doors to others, and enriches the dialogue that stimulates all aspects of human progress, and the need for poetry becomes extremely urgent in times when conditions are turbulent.”