‘Not Waving but Drowning: A Poetry Workshop by Katherine Gallagher’

On the surface, Stevie Smith’s life (1903-1971) was simple – uneventful, self-effacing, but underneath, it was eclectic and driven. Her biographer Frances Spalding links the life to the poems, poems that Stevie said contained ‘her whole life . . . everything I have lived through, and done, and seen, and read and imagined and thought and argued.‘ Her famous poem ‘Not Waving But Drowning’ is now part of everyday language:
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

Her life and poetry showed her to be loved but also the perennial ‘outsider’ – this is her paradox spelled out in her most important relationships: with her great ‘Lion Aunt’ and Palmers Green; with her job (the same one for thirty years); with God; and with Death – these all interrelating. Indeed, poetry became her fortress for, as she said, though ‘the human creature is alone in his carapace . . . poetry is a strong way out.’ Stevie Smith is witty, brilliant, funny, anarchic, humane. Participants will gain new insights into her relationship with her Muse:
Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy?
She does not. I only listen when I am unhappy
When I am happy I live and despise writing
For my Muse this cannot but be dispiriting.

Katherine Gallagher is a widely-published poet and experienced tutor. She has five full collections of poetry, most recently Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems (Arc Publications, 2010).
W: www.katherine-gallagher.com

E: mail@katherine-gallagher.com

In 2002, she was co-organiser of the Stevie Smith Centenary Palmers Green Poetry Festival: ‘Ten Days With Stevie Smith.’

Pre-booking essential. Please book early to avoid disappointment.Tickets can be booked via the Dugdale Box Office: 020 8807 6680 or online www.dugdalecentre.co.uk