'Writers Bloc' is a society at the University of Birmingham which promotes creative writing amongst the student body. Whilst I've not yet started attending meetings regularly I still associate myself with it and last night attended 'Scribble Kicks', a poetry reading they hosted which saw Salt Publishing poets Luke Kennard and Abi Curtis launch their latest poetry collections, A Lost Expression and The Glass Delusion respectively. The evening also had members of Writers Bloc read their own poetry. They were all so confident and quite rightly so, I don't think anyone had reason to be embarrassed as the quality which was showcased testifies that this student run group isn't a step towards a middle-aged book club. They take their writing seriously, but not too seriously; I was happily surprised at the lack of poetry about ex's and the large amount of comedic verse which drew a lot of laughs from a warm crowd. The Salt poets continued this trend, Kennard's poem, which for the life of me I can't remember the title of, but it concerns a wolf and the stigmatisation of being middle class, made me crack a smile, which is a pretty good achievement as I was sat on my own in the corner looking fairly glum and feeling sorry for myself. Then Curtis was up and didn't fail to impress, and I'm not being biased because she revealed herself as a fellow Whovian. It was truly inspiring to see these young poets, both professional and amateur, display their art confidently and proudly. Midway through the night I would have happily joined them, but sadly I arrived late and missed the sign-up for the open-mic slots. However, I can gladly link the Writers Bloc's publication 'The Journal' in which my poem 'Larkin Rings' was featured, page 14, alongside other pieces from members.
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