The Noth Shore Poets’ Forum met on May 15 in the Sohier Room of the Beverly Public Library, with 8 of us in attendance: Cathryn O’Hare (me), Jennifer Revill, Sandy Hokanson, Mary Miceli, Ellie Nelson, Beverly Barnes, Susan Picole, and Nancy Pantano.

Susan introduced us to the extraordinarily poignant poetry of Warsan Shire, born in 1988 in Kenya to Somali parents. She was brought to England as a one year old and grew up there. She now lives in the U.S.

Shire focuses on abuse, love, war, and more. Susan read a number of Shire’s poems, including “Home.”

I found this You Tube clip of Shire reading that poem.

Shire has published three volumes of poetry to date, and her poems have appeared in many journals. Here’s a fun fact: her poems were adapted to music for Beyonce’s album Lemonade. Quite a resume for this 25 year old!

After this wonderful introduction to such a proficient poet, we then shared our own poems for gentle critique.

We also decided to have a summer outing. However, the Mass State Poetry Society is meeting on June 17 at the Beverly Public Library, which some of us forgot (me). Therefore, if there is enough enthusiasm, we would have to choose a different date. Please let me know your thoughts.

Cheers!