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Surrealism by Zoom led by Marion Cockin

by Roger Noons


Prior to the start of Bilston Writers May Workshop, Carol Howarth, the Chairperson, announced that Ros Woolner had obtained First and Third places in the Poetry Competition judged by Kate Clanchy, which was part of the Guernsey Literary Festival. The winner was entitled Pruning the Laurel and in third place was The Last Changing Room. Ros kindly read her poems to us which were a joy to hear.


16 members then embarked on an intensive two hours of studying, reading and writing. Marion introduced us to the meaning of surrealism and associated writing techniques. We read through poems written by André Breton and Federico Garcia Lorca amongst others, before moving on to Surrealist art as exemplified by the likes of Matisse, Dali and Rousseau.


The writing initially was Automatic, ie writing every spontaneous thought down on paper before logic takes over and rephrases it. We then moved on to the Surrealist Game, where four concrete nouns, four abstract nouns and their definitions were jumbled up to create such headings as :-

Respect - a timepiece containing face and moving fingers.

Intolerance - a four legged animal with saddle and stirrups.


The final writing exercise was poetry or prose inspired by Surrealist paintings.


As always, time passed quickly, but all present were pleased with their achievements. Grateful thanks were expressed to Marion for her commitment to preparing and leading the workshop.

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