An Evening with Rosemary Tonks

 An Evening with Rosemary Tonks, The Queen's Head, Soho, Feb 26

One of the benefits of doing this website over the years has been the number of people I've heard from through it regarding various content. And no theme has generated more correpondance than Rosemary Tonks. It was a special treat to upgrade e-mail exchanges to meeting in person with Kevin Harrison and Rafael Cruz who organized their Evening with Rosemary Tonks for a choice audience of 40 fellow interested parties.

Rafael was a charming and indefatigable anchor providing a biographical and critical commentary with Kevin and Helena Medina reading selected poems in amongst it. In the second half there was a song from Gabriel Moreno, a recording of Rosemary herself as well as the poem given vintage 1960's treatment in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a translation by Rafael into Spanish, a relevant poem from Kathryn Gray and a discussion.

Rafael and Kevin's script included the suggestion that Rosemary's leavetaking of her literary life is foreshadowed in a poem like Farewell to Kurdistan which is a more specific variation on the idea that all her work exudes a deep dissatisfaction into which we can interpolate the reasons for her subsequent abdication. 

The event was privileged to have mature versions of the bridesmaids and page boy from Rosemary's wedding photograph who brought authentic reportage of having been related to and known the poet who disappeared so totally from the literary world but not from their lives and top marks for them for protecting Rosemary's privacy when the search was on to establish her whereabouts.

Certainly that was of more value that one contribution from the audience. I hadn't for a moment seen the invitation to contribute my thoughts coming which might have been a good thing. I hope I got away with it. On behalf of the band I hope I passed the audition. If I provided little else of much significance it was at least an opportunity to express deep gratitude for the event. Rafael, Kevin and friends put on an erudite, well-researched and engaging show. Come December I will be weighing up the claims of candidates for my Event of the Year. The shortlist for that largely unsought-after accolade is now underway.