We saw Jocelyn Page read a while ago at The Hold poetry event in Greenwich, and since then we've all become super fans of her poetry. She completed her MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, and she's now doing her PhD.
Her poetry has been featured in Smiths Knoll, The Interpreter’s House and City Lighthouse anthology.
Here is something she wrote.
Overcomers’ Assembly
They sat grinning in their fold-up chairs
in the school gym
that drizzly Sunday
Handbags hooked on the pummel horse
raincoats fainted limp
over the balance beam
And with the keyboard’s first maniacal trill
the congregation leapt up
arms and fingers alive
While the preacher cracked his knuckles
and throttled and dipped
the mic with an Elvis thrust
(And he cried) Give it up for Jesus Christ!
Open your hearts
and let our Savior in!
A lady in the back purled like a whippoorwill
and a man at the front
purred like an orgy of bees
Some chirped fluent with eyelids fluttering
nodding to the rafters
to the retired jerseys
With their numbers like the weekly scripture
while the stats board
hung from the ceiling
Unblinking, tied and scoreless and folk smiled
and cried at once
little rainbows in a storm
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You can read more of her poetry here and also here.
Also, Simon Pomery and Helen Mort and lots of other brilliant poets are reading this Saturday at The Book Club Boutique, it looks like super fun so GO if you can.