Today I would like to talk about a topic that is very special to me. How to possess poetry by memory.

And that is a phrase that comes from one of my favourite critics, Harold Bloom. And we will get to

bloom in a moment. But I wanted to begin by talking about just what it is, about poetry specifically.

That is so special. For me personally, poetry has been a constant throughout my life, and it doesn't

matter what I'm going through if I'm going through a stressful or significant life event,

and in the previous years, there have

certainly been quite a few of those back to back, compressed in a very small space. I have found

that poetry is a constant. It's a constant comfort. It's something that I can reliably

return to when I most need it in those really dark times.

And we all go through periods of difficulty.

We all go through dark times.

We all go through down times.

We all have our own monsters and demons to battle.

We all have our own obstacles that we need to overcome. And sometimes when

things are darkest, we feel incredibly alone. But it's in those moments when we feel most alone,

that we are actually most connected to everybody else, because we all go through these difficult times. We go through these

traumatic periods, these trials and tribulations and we frequently find ourselves longing for

somebody who can comprehend what we're going through. Sometimes we want to be heard. Sometimes we

want to listen to another, talk about what we're going through,

to help us through. And sometimes when things are really difficult, we are maybe shocked,

maybe a little bit disappointed in the world when we discover that those closest to us,

maybe can't help us, maybe they can't comfort us. Maybe they don't have words of

...