Poems from the Old Squash Court Café

Stanzas are groups run voluntarily by Poetry Society members, and take a variety of forms. Some Stanzas meet to give feedback on each other’s poems in progress, some are poetry reading groups, some run impromptu open mic sessions. A lot meet locally, and a growing number gather online. Joining an existing Stanza, or setting up a new one, are great ways to meet like-minded poetry lovers and to develop your own poetry communities.

Our lead editor, the poet DG Herring, is a member of the Poetry Society, and a long-standing member of Wimborne Stanza. He believes that poetry thrives in community. This anthology captures a rare thing: the output from a group of writers who have grown together, challenged each other, and created poetry that could only have emerged from shared tables, shared drafts and shared lives.

Wimborne Stanza hopes the poems in this anthology speak for themselves, but also speak volumes about our world, ourselves and what inspires us poetically.

Here you will find poems about Chesil pebbles and Portland stone; concerns for the planet and for the displaced; conversations overheard and with ourselves; runners in parks and dancers in mid-leap; unstitchings and AI glitches; swamps, shrews and grey, ravelled sheep.

Buying this book supports grassroots poetry, and helps keep local creative communities flourishing. Get your copy here.