A first draft, page reading of a new narrative poem celebrating the poet Shelley and marking the 200th anniversary of his death will take place at Maggie’s N16 on Friday 3 June at 6pm.
Giving voice to the bronze bust erected to the English Romantic poet Shelley whose body washed up on the shoreline of Viareggio, Italy, this new work seeks to reconcile the poet with those he left behind and justify his place in the modern age where statues are toppled and free speech is weaponised.
Visited first by Mary Shelley and then by his first wife Harriet the author challenges the silent statue to account for his actions provoking a poetic odyssey that tells of Shelley’s ten days twisting in the waves, “his stormy going out, his short blown course and slow return to shore.”
JAN NOBLE 