ON FRIDAY, Berkshire’s bards held their regular poetry open mic event at South Street Arts Centre, with a home-grown special guest performance.
Poets’ Cafe, a monthly event for sharing poetry, was joined by David Cooke, who performed a number of original pieces alongside the open-mic readers and attendees.
Born in Wokingham, Cooke lived in Reading for much of his life, and the town features in much of his poetry.
He also edits The High Window, a quarterly poetry review featuring both new and established poets from the UK and includes literary essays and translations as well as poetry reviews.
At the event, he gave performances of a number of original works, including Visiting, a poem for his grandfather, A House in Mayo, which harks to his family ties to Ireland.
He also performed a elegy to his father with a poem called Work Horses, during which he reminisces about his father’s work in one of Reading’s breweries.
This was followed by Shadowboxing, a highlight of the set, For All Good Intentions, and an ode to Smokey Robinson, When Smokey Sings.
He closed the set with Two CV and My Grandson Writes His Name.
Speaking at the event, Mr Cooke said: “Reading is my town, but I was born in the maternity hospital in Wokingham.
“I read from my collected works, which are my life in verse, and Reading is where it all started.
“I’ve not been here to the Poets’ Cafe for a while, but when I got into my most recent phase of poetry writing, I used to come here a lot.”
Speaking on the poetry scene in Reading, he said: “Poetry is kind of generational, and I’m a bit old.
“You get into certain people at a certain age, the scene goes its way, and some lose interest.
“My editing of The High Window means I get to keep my finger on the pulse, even if I’m not necessarily completely in tune with a lot of the scene.”
He explains that there was a 20-year period where he stopped writing poetry: “But there was a lot of stuff bubbling in my subconcious.
“I’ve written quite a few poems about Reading, many of which appear in my collection Work Horses, because it was where I spent my formative years.
“It lends itself to inspiration for me, because I was brought up here by an Irish family, so you write what you know.”
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