The Least of Things: Remarking the Unremarkable, Poetry with Philip Gross 18/8/25

What can the least extraordinary of things say to us? What can we do for the commonplace object, this pebble, that bit of used Blu-tack, just by noticing? And what might it give back? In an age that can seem hungry for important and newsworthy messages, we will explore the poem’s conversation with the ordinary, through some unexpected twists, turns and distinctions.

With the help of poems by Emily Dickinson, Jaan Kaplinski, William Carlos Williams, Jane Hirshfield and one or two of Philip Gross’ own, we can map the difference between the art of the telling detail as a narrative tool, the generative power of the small dull thing in prompting our imaginations, and the Zen impulse to less-ness as a mind-clearing discipline in itself. Sometimes a moment of close attention to the least of things can surprise us out of our familiar thoughts and change the way we see.

2hrs 15mins long 

Start time: 10am UK time // 5pm Perth Australia // 6.30pm Adelaide & Darwin // 7pm Brisbane, Sydney, AEST // 9pm NZ

Times on the homepage of this site are in London, UK Timezone, but when you add the event to your calendar it should be correct for your local time zone.

You can check your timezone against London UK time here: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter/

Philip Gross was born in Cornwall and, for the last 20 years, has lived in South Wales. The principle of water, in particular Môr Hafren, the Severn estuary, has formed a backdrop to his work since The Water Table won the TS Eliot Prize in 2009. His most recent collection 'The Shores of Vaikus' (Bloodaxe, 2024) returns to Estonia, birthplace of his father, a wartime refugee. As well as twenty-odd collections of poetry, for adults and young people, he has written novels for young people, opera libretti and radio plays. One of the writer-educators who helped establish creative writing in UK universities, he not so much retired as ‘released himself back into the wild’ in 2017. Collaboration, especially across the different arts, is one of the springboards for his writing, and he brings his Quaker understanding of the positive depths of silence to the dance of words and silence that we know as poetry.

Zoom link and joining information (including handout to print) will be sent by email at least 2 days prior. If you don’t receive it get in touch with me.

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