A passion for poetry
12:12pm Thursday 24th April 2008
TONY Walton discovered he was a poet in 1998 after some 30 years spent writing in every other genre – fiction, non-fiction and drama.
Having penned his first poem, Tony completed dozens more in the course of the following 18 months, 35 of which form the bulk of his first book, Rough Notations, which he published in 2006.
In the last decade since he started writing poetry, Tony has found his poetic muse to be unpredictable, with two extended periods, one lasting three years, in which he wrote nothing.
Among the poems in Rough Notations are several that Tony wrote to court his wife, artist Brontë Woodruff – the couple celebrate their second wedding anniversary in June this year.
“I came to Hay to busk my poetry and met Brontë at a Midsummer party,” Tony recalls. “I decided that she was the reason for moving to Herefordshire permanently.” After a year in which he wrote just four poems, November 2007 saw a return to form and in just 40 days, Tony wrote more than 70 new poems, including The Song of Orpheus which he will be reading on Wednesday, April 30, at Heart Music, an event being held in Leintwardine Community Centre.
“Writing poems is really only half the job,” says Tony. “Poetry demands to be taken out and shared with people, whether to a small group or a larger audience. That’s what it’s all about.” Heart Music will also feature Sue Harris on hammer dulcimer, “the closest thing possible to Orpheus’s lyre”, says Tony, and Whitton Voices, an a capella four-part harmony choir who will preview their Folk Songs Old and New.
Heart Music will be followed on Friday, May 9, by Sing Out!, an evening of music, song and lyric poetry at Aymestrey Village Hall, for which Tony will be joined by the bluegrass sound of Sons of Little Hoedown and guitar and vocals duo, Small Blue Fish.
Determined to share his passion for poetry, Tony has also started a poetry group – whether to read your own poetry, bring along favourite poems to read aloud or just listen to poems being read – which will next meet on Friday, May 1 at Aymestrey Village Hall.
For Tony, poetry meets a spiritual need, as something to turn to in times of need and trouble and what it means to him is best summed up in the epigraph which precedes his collection: “Poems are rough notations for the music we are”, Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207-73).
Tony’s second volume of poetry, On Yatton Hill, will be published in June.
To book tickets for either event, contact Tony or Brontë on 01568 770177 or buy on the door.