Chichester poet Terry Timblick pools three decades of poetry

Chichester poet and retired journalist Terry Timblick has brought together three decades of poetry into one volume.
in conversation with Mr Keatsin conversation with Mr Keats
in conversation with Mr Keats

Covid-19 hasn’t prompted me to write virus-specific poetry but it has spurred the collection of 30 years of poems into a book on behalf of Save the Children, confronted daily by a new mountain of misery and need,” says Terry.

Terry says he got a bit serious about the rhyme-or-blank arts as a student in creative writing at Bishop Otter College (now University of Chichester). Encouraged by lecturers Vicki Feaver and Hugh Dunkerley, his subjects varied from a leopard, squirrel and buskers to liberated Prague. Limericks and Japanese haiku enriched the mix.

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“Since then my enthusiasm has been rekindled by the Open Mic Poetry group, which usually meets monthly at New Park Centre, led by the irrepressible Barry Smith.

“The chance to share one’s poems with writing friends fosters creativity and discipline, and the meetings often have excellent guest poets reading their work. Former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion topped the bill for one of the traditional high summer poetry and jazz evenings at Edes House. The group produce an anthology of their year’s work for such occasions, and throughout the pandemic local poets have continued to air their work online.”

Terry is promising plenty of variety in his new book Versibilia: “Certainly a few of the poems appeared in the short-run 2016 and 2017 miscellanies containing work by friends as well, but there are plenty of fresh originals, including a highly topical dedication to David Attenborough, which he has already acknowledged.

“Every family generates memories special to them. I have included a Worthing bombing raid when my sister and I thwarted the Luftwaffe, a Yorkshire holiday, a romantic cream tea and a signal box safari as hooks.

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“Probably the most Chichester-hearted poem is about Vincent Gray’s superb sculpture of John Keats sitting in Eastgate Square, and Oaklands Park can’t be ignored. A typically memorable Pallant House exhibition has triggered a tragic reference to Virginia Woolf, John Constable dominates a classic scene, and there’s a plea by a quill-pushing oldie trying to resist the IT tide in our incomparable library.

“The ghost of Ken Dodd brings surprising cheer to an end-of-days setting in a St Richard’s ward, and Battle of Britain drama is focused on Tangmere Fighter Station. Edward Thomas’ immensely popular Adlestrop is revisited, a recent holiday in Tenerife is recalled, apples have inspired two poems, and summer and winter have evoked responses.”

A snowflake inspires a couplet in the style of American humorist Ogden Nash, while the poem To End all Wars has had a welcome extra life – as mainspring for a ten-word story, prize-winner in a competition in Shoreham Wordfest.

“In its way flash fiction is as much an exercise in concision and revelation as poetry.

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“My Shoreham item is so brief I can remember it, and let’s just say that there’s a hint of divine intervention about it!”

Terry revels in Chichester’s bookish richness: “Not only – normally – do we have so much entertainment choice, we are served wonderfully well by our book sources, with the library, Kim’s, Waterstones etc and a dedicated Oxfam bookshop, plus a literary society and a writers’ circle, in addition to open and creative courses. Talk about a city punching above its its literary and cultural weight…”

Versibilia is £8 from Save the Children shops Littlehampton, Storrington; or £10 by post, contact [email protected] or on 01243 537812; or Save the Children co-ordinator [email protected] or 07765 048590.

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