The Wheatsheaf Report, and our Poem, Story and Inspiration Point of the Week

As you might be able to tell from the pictures, we had a fantastic get-together this Wednesday at the Wheatsheaf in London, where we managed to raise 135£ for The Railway Children. Rhiannonw read some beautiful poems – including one inspired by last week's IP, a first for me - Kevin Marman, aka Stan, gave a very spirited (and poignant) reading from his book In the Day, Barely Black Francis had us first laughing and then deeply moved, while Sam Aina aka Akimba treated us to the first story from his freshly published debut, The Rolls-Royce of Poverty; we also heard from new voices like TFH and Aidan Cottrell-Boyce as well as old favourites like BlackJack Davey, Rob Newlyn, Elsie Katz and Bee – it was an incredible evening and I’m already looking forward to our next get-together on June 18th.

But on to the picks of the week. This week’s story of the week is VeraClark’s Trainers on Telegraph Wires. It's excellent novelistic writing, carefully crafted and confidently controlled, and there’s a little parenthetical one beside it, so I’m hoping against hope this is the start of a long series. With its sharp characterisation and gritty realism this piece will pull you into the vicissitudes of the world of social work.

Our Poem of the Week - Silver Spun Sand’s ‘Once Upon a Life’ - is up to Tina’s usual standard of excellence, but it sticks out in that she writes in a style that's unusual for her: this poem is so sparse it’s almost narrative, edited down to pure concision. And it works perfectly - lines like ‘I had two daughters / one goldfish / and three rabbits’ sparkle in ambiguous surreality. This is a pleasure to read, brimming with reality and life and an understated melancholy.

And, as always, have a look at our Inspiration Point for something to start you off (this week I’ve got an extra challenge for you – come up with a new malapropism and fit it into a piece of writing, old or new).