Last night there was a small gathering of poets beside the canal (but inside the pub or it would have been too cold) at Hebden Bridge. What it lacked in numbers was made up for in quality and the atmosphere was really superb.

As usual there was a great variety of style and substance and as usual my memory is really poor so I won't try to give full rundown.

However in the first half it became obvious that WOL was keeping a number of very disturbed and possibly dangerous poets off the street. With Paul's Stalker, Dermot's head in the freezer and a frankly dangerous Samaritan I wonder where it all comes from. Later on the credit crunch became a big topic and Sean put the *ankers nicely into their place.

For myself on the other hand I only included one poem where someone dies so I must be recovering!

It was nice to know that the youth section, Jordan, decided to give us something a bit less psychotic.

These events can be a brilliant social occasion as well as a chance to showcase work and more importantly to listen to others' work. Late after most had gone home the few survivors bemoaned the lack of social interaction after the performance. The performance tends too end fairly early and they won't chuck us out until quite a lot later so lets see if we can encourage more people to stay on and join in the chat, discuss the evening and generally be happy.

Of course some people have child care issues etc. and Jordan really needs to leave in good time with all those A Levels to study.

So if "WOL keeps poetry real" ( you can have that slogan for free if you want) lets start a movement to "Keep poets out later"

What do you say?

Seamus