October’s Monthly Stories & Poems

October is of course associated with all manner of ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night. We’ve put our own spin on this, and the theme for this month’s stories and poems is ‘a shock to the system’. This month’s selections are all tales of the unexpected – whether that is the unwonted emotions or new ideas that might be stirred up during a time of quiet reflection, as in Chekov’s story of ‘The Schoolmistress’ or the poem ‘The Call’ by Charlotte Mew. Or there are stories and poems about the shocks that come from beyond one’s normal life – traumas, disasters or mysterious strangers who intrude and somehow change everything (Edwin Muir’s ‘Horses’, Murakami’s ‘The Seventh Man’, and ‘The Hollow Men Without Masks’).  In two stories/ extracts, by Frank O’Connor and Anita Desai, we see people being altered in the process of confronting their own pasts, and through poems by Sylvia Path and Raymond Carver, ordinary occurrences and things are transformed, becoming strange and even threatening. There’s also a fun poem for children about an octopus. We hope you enjoy these unsettling and thought-provoking journeys, and let us know what sort of thoughts and feelings.

October’s stories and extracts are:

‘The Schoolmistress’ by Anton Chekhov

‘These silences and shadows…’ (extract from Clear Light of Day) by Anita Desai

‘The Seventh Man’ by Haruki Murakami

‘The Hollow Men Without Masks’ by Rob Magnuson Smith

‘The Study of History’ by Frank O’Connor

October’s poems are:

‘The Emergensea’ by John Hegley

‘The Horses’ by Edwin Muir

‘Mushrooms’ by Sylvia Plath

‘The Call’ by Charlotte Mew

‘Locking Yourself Out, and Trying to Get Back In’ by Raymond Carver

If you're a Reader Leader head to the Online Community Hub to download this month's selection.