April’s Stories and Poems

Amongst April's selection of Monthly Stories and Poems we offer a preview of Walking The Earth, The Reader's Big Idea for 2021-22. There's more news to come about Walking The Earth soon; while we wait, we hope these tasters, alongside the other choices, give lots to think about and enjoy.

A range of different relationships are explored in April's prose pieces, coming under different pressures. We meet a newlywed couple who undertake an unusual mission, a family struggling to keep their livelihoods as the world around them changes, two friends who reunite and find themselves in quite separate circumstances, two boys who grow up to become men and their journey through life, and two strangers who come to learn more about each other during a chance encounter on a seemingly ordinary day.

April's stories and extracts are:

'Strong Enough To Help' by David Constantine

'A Little Cloud' by James Joyce

'The Second Bakery Attack' by Haruki Murakami

Nectar in a Sieve (extract) by Kamala Markandaya

'Boys' by Rick Moody

As we continue to spend more time out of doors, and particularly as the weather begins to improve and the days get longer, what there is to be found in nature is a thread running through April's poetry selections, thinking especially about how the small details in nature can teach us many things about our own lives. We also think about periods of change - whether they be about certain times in our lives or something else - and what it means to be free, and all the things that the notion of freedom contains.

'This Morning' by Raymond Carver

'The Excoriation' by Patience Agbabi

'Homeland' by Mohyiddin Faris

'I am alive - I guess' by Emily Dickinson

'Where I worked' by Jo Shapcott

If you're a Reader volunteer, April's selection of stories and poems are available to download from the Online Community Hub.

For more suggestions of great reads, the Daily Readings for April have the theme ‘Balm For The Soul’. Take a look at what’s coming up over on The Reader at Home.