The Third Khushi Poetry and Ceramics Group Meeting
James Black
On Wednesday 21st July the third meeting of the Khushi women’s poetry group took place at Belgrave Library. Once again the poetry side of meeting was led by Leicester Libraries resident Book Doctor Alison Dunne whilst Fiona Meagher from Fosse Arts and City Gallery instructed the ceramic work.
In last week’s session each of the ladies wrote about their experiences of being at the seaside. In each story the ladies expressed their feelings of peacefulness and tranquillity that the surrounding beauty instils. A recurring sense of joy and happiness also went along with each of the stories.
This week Alison explained to the group that they should focus less on emotional aspect of being at the seaside and more on the physical world which surrounded them. This would give grounding to the poems and make the writing more particularised and individual.
The ladies shared their stories which came from a wide variety of destinations Africa, America and India. We heard about the tiny white crabs which run from the sea and escape down small holes in the sand, the heat of the mid-day sun, a relaxing cool breeze, the smell of the sea and of fresh seafood being cooked. All of these sensory delights were then condensed into a few short words and phrases so that they could be used in the ceramic activities.
This week’s work involved writing the words onto ceramic tiles this was done in a couple of ways either by cutting out the letters from colourful patterned paper or by dousing a stencilled letter in a mysterious special liquid which when placed on the tile imprints the letter. Fiona really does have some unique technical knowledge hidden up her sleeve!
The ‘Khushi’ group were also joined by Andy Williams from CAPS (Community Actions Photographers) and Simon Parker from Citizens’ Eye. Andy was in attendance to take a professional looking photograph of Khushi Group that will appear alongside Alison’s write-up of the meeting that will appear in her Leicester Mercury column. Whilst Simon came along to make a short film interviewing the ladies, asking them about their activities and the history of the Khushi Group which, as we discovered, has been going for an amazing 15 years!
With four people (myself, Andy, Simon and Alison) covering this week’s event at Belgrave Library there was a real buzz of excitement and interest in what was happening. Several library users put down the latest V.S. Naipaul or Jeffery Archer novel to see what all the commotion was all about. When clearing away the materials Fiona told me that the friendship and fun found at each meeting always fills her with a great feeling of joy. It’s obvious by now that a ’Khushi’ meeting is a happy meeting in any language!
