Selso, the newly elected Chair, receives the gavel from Miriam, the outgoing Chair.

At a lively and entertaining AGM last night, which went the full distance to 9.30pm, Selso Xisto was elected to be the new Circle Chair, taking over after a three year stint from Miriam Moss, who steered our course through a tricky time post-Covid, leaving the Circle in excellent health. After receiving the gavel, in typically unconventional fashion, Selso offered us a heartfelt poem. He didn’t really need to apologise to the actual poets in the Circle! Most of those attending found their way to the pub afterwards and it was unanimously agreed that the Circle is indeed in safe hands.

The Circle

It’s just a hobby, it won’t pay the bills
You need a real job with marketable skills
Get your head down, chase that promotion
But… this isn’t the life I’d have chosen

I’m OK with being a weirdo, the only one in the room
whose mind is elsewhere, like a castle, a tomb
or a ship, a meadow, a nebula, or a plane
anywhere to escape the dull, the mundane

I’m used to the polite smile, the change of subject
I know you’re not interested in my little project
Imagine a world where everything I write
Is greeted with applause and smiles of delight

But that’s not how it works. You don’t care, that’s OK
No one wants to hear what I have to say 
So I scribbled my stories just for myself
Fantasised about seeing my book on that shelf

I could be ‘normal’. I could pretend
But inside, I’d be waiting for the smalltalk to end
Then one day, a Circle changed my life forever
A room full of weirdos, their minds full of treasure

You… want to hear my story? Do you really? Are you sure?
But it’s rubbish, it’s a first draft, I’m being premature
It’s alright. We understand. You’re not the only weirdo around here
Our characters are real to us too, we’ll lend you an ear

Pantsers and plotters, poems and prose
Novelists, doodlers, amateurs and pros
Semicolon or em-dash, bold or italic
Even brackets or an asterisk, though emoji are… problematic

I’ve found a planet where I can breathe without a mask
Brilliant, creative minds, happy to help if you ask
This Circle means more to me than my words can describe
My search is over. I have found my tribe