Bath Poetry and a Pint group record CD to help the homeless

Twenty poets from a Bath group have put together a CD of their work to raise money for homelessness charities.

The participants in the Poetry and a Pint sessions at the St James' Wine Vaults have contributed to the disc to mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of Avon Poetry Festival.

There are 60 poems on the CD, which has been produced by retired psychotherapist Misha Carder and recorded by sound engineer Adrian Tuddenham.

Called Sixty Poems on Being Human, it will be launched on Monday, November 12, at the pub, and there will also be a public reading later in the month.

The Poetry and a Pint open mic sessions evolved out of the festival and its offshoot, the Bath Poetry Can.

The £5 CD will raise money for Julian House, the Genesis Trust and St Mungo's, and its sleeve was designed by the Big Issue Art Group, which is held weekly at the Gardener's Lodge of the Holburne Museum.

There will be readings from of some of the poems at Manvers Street Baptist Church on Thursday, November 22, from 12.30pm to 1.15pm.

Mrs Carder, who has worked professionally with rough sleepers, has a track on the CD called The Big Guilt Issue.

She said: "The poems are eclectic, witty, poignant, ironic, sad, playful and above all entertaining.

"The theme of people was chosen as being more accessible to the general public and to make the point that poetry does not have to be about the natural world.

"The CD would make an ideal Christmas present as it offers something for everyone."

Among the poets are Jeremy Gibson, Duncan Tweedale, Mrs Carder's husband Richard, and Shane Dudley, as well as the late Dave Angus and Mary Palmer, whose poems are read by the Carders.

The CD has been heard by award-winning former poetry professor at Bath Spa University Philip Gross, who sent the group this feedback.

He said: "Humane as well as human, these poems are a concourse of voices, many journeys intersecting.

"Unlike stations and airports, though, this is a listening space, a good culture, like the poetry venue that has brought this rich variety of writers together over the years."

For details on where the CD is being sold, email mishacarder@yahoo.co.uk.

Three trees grow rooted in the ball of earth that is me.

Their roots twisting around my heart,

Penetrating my mind,

Altering my vision,

My hearing,

My everything.

They are no longer saplings,

But have sturdy branches that reach out across the world,

Intertwined with others.

Yet I feel everything they feel.

They hold me close,

Renewing me with fallen leaves and nutrients.

Without them I believe I would fall to dust.