Communion

On Friday night I had the pleasure of attending the launch of my friend Deborah Harvey’s first book of poetry, Communion.

Look, it was a long time ago!

I went to the University of Lancaster with Debbie, much longer ago than either of us would care to remember. It's probably fair to say that poetry was less a feature of our friendship then than, say, drinking beer out of plastic Viking axes. We kind of lost touch after we left, as this was back in the day, before the advent of social networking. However, thanks to Facebook, I found Debbie again about 18 months ago, and it turned out she was living back in the place where she grew up, less than a mile from where I was working!

Writing has always been a passion of mine, but I had allowed myself to lapse into a void of creative inactivity, so it was wonderful when Debbie invited me to join the local writers’ group that she attended, led by Kate Dunn. It was at these groups that I discovered Debbie’s remarkable talent for poetry. At the group meetings, we often read out our work for the others to critique. Although I don’t feel particularly qualified to do so, I can usually find some minor suggestion for improvement or constructive criticism when the others present their material. (They find a lot more room for improvement when I read out mine!) But when Debbie reads, she is more often than not met with awe-struck silence. Not just from me but from the whole group. 

There is clearly a lot of passion in her work. Her poetry comes from the heart, and whether you hear it spoken or read it from the page, you can immediately relate to a windswept Dartmoor, a character from Bristol’s turbulent past or an emotionally charged episode from Debbie’s own life. But there is more than passion to her poetry. Technically it is quite brilliant too. Structures, rhythms and rhymes are all crafted to perfection. And Debbie is clearly a lover of words. Not a word is wasted. Every word is carefully chosen for its meaning, sound and shape, and many an arcane word that we believed to be long-forgotten, has been resurrected on Debbie’s pages.

So it came as no surprise to anyone in the group when Debbie announced she had got her (first, of many) book of poems published. And it was a privilege to be there at the launch at Halo on Gloucester Road on Friday night. In a room full of family, friends and fellow writers, Debbie, and a number of guest readers, read poems from her book Communion, and local singer-songwriter Reg Meuross provided appropriately toned musical interludes. The warmth and intimacy of the event were entirely fitting, and I’m sure Debbie enjoyed her well-deserved night in the spotlight as much as we did.

'Communion' is published by Indigo Dreams, and is available from the following sites:

• Indigo Dreams
  
• Amazon
• WH Smith