Poet cancellation creates a July open mic extravaganza.

Pratibha Castle unfortunately had to cancel last minute which left us with a little more time than usual to lavish on our regular and new pen mic-ers. And what an evening it was! Mr John's challenge in response to the recent heat waves was 'Some like it hot' and needless to say, our audience participation was impressive!!

John R kicked off the evening and gave us a wonderful outline of the 'Difference between expectation and reality' and 'Friday Night in Mind'; Charles A's beautiful 'The moon who can pull at the Tides' was wonderfully stirring and dream- like. Christine gave us a flavour of the seaside 'still pouring chips in the frier. Half slips in a split chip' but showed her versatility by changing tone entirely for a poem based around domestic violence. with 'Punch and Judy'; Mr John was at long last able to share his poetry with his hosting role delegated for the evening to PCafe's team member, Mark Durbidge. John read his Sussex Modernism response reacting to the International Workers' Mural, 'embroider and stitch a fabric new'. He also rallied the sentiment of union with 'Je Suis' commemorating those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and eloquently supporting the freedom of speech. Keith W told a tale of 'Dodging' 'from rain to phone screens and temptation, from newspaper headlines to domestic accusations'. Ellis was next up with a tale that took us from darkest despair to hope and happiness with a final image of Biffy the dog barking. David A turned technical with a Tanka 'Mobility' featuring the 'Jet Stream goes walkabout'. Di Hills gave us a love poem 'to the girl with fiery hair and tattoos' leaving us with the striking line 'I ate a man today'! Di also took time to make us ponder on the benefits of 'Robot Loyalty'.

Keith and Nicki joined forces to encourage us all to let loose our naughtier sides with 'Let's sin! Let's sin! Let's sin!' Making us all blush and laugh in equal measures!

Robin continued our second half with 'The Cartographer' and a plea to 'just send me up a mountain', 'climb from a to B' with a hint of psychodelia it was indeed a little trippy!

SooDoo aptly continued with 'The Abyss of Despair' and 'There's a skeleton in my Closet' and a linguistic return to Northern climes with 'The Babbling Burn'.

Amanda kept the political flag flying with giving us 'the endless race' of 'Recession' and magnificently described 'War' as 'the ebb and flow of hope'. Mike continued the idea with a passionate plea to 'free Palestine' .

Louise read her poetry that can be seen at Hastings' bus stops that tells of 'people gaze with unseeing eyes ' as they travel through the greenery and urbanity of Hastings. Nicki touched a poignant key as she read 'The Removal Men Came Today' that centered around the issue of Alzheimer sufferers. Jackson used the Poetry Cafe as a tester for her solo show here in Eastbourne. The line 'it was so hard to look in the mirror when I only had eyes for you' gives a taste of what will surely be a great event. Abir, an ascending poetic star without doubt, showed his talent and for words and expression playing with the colours of nature and mood with 'My sun bows behind lavender clouds'. Rowan followed with harrowing poetry linked to life in a cult community where children have simultaneous messages of 'don't be a child and don't grow up' and where tense 'quiet hours are measured in waiting'.

Jazzy the poet spun an energetic memory of shut down during the Covid 19 pandemic 'The great masked debate' where we spent our time 'in our bubbles'

The final open mic before our summer break was closed by Mike L singing his own lyrics to the musical hit from Chicago 'All that Jazz' and seamlessly transformed the hit to 'All that Tax'! with our audience ably joining in with a full voiced chorus.

A superb ending to a great year. We hope to see you all again in the Autumn with our guest Poet Simon Maddrall on the 9th September at the Frontier Bar in Grove Road.