David Keighley

Special Guest, Hampshire Writers’ Society 8th November 2022

Report by Sarah Noon

David published a selection of poems in 2020 entitled Poems, Piety and Psyche (David’s three main interests in life) described as “Progressive poems for rebellious Christians.” He is a performance poet, was a priest for 40 years, and a qualified psychotherapist. He has also been a science teacher and a remedial teacher. David tells us that he has written 4160 sermons – the equivalent of eight War & Peace’s or six Bibles!

David begins his talk by telling us that the room is a “safe space” and that some of his views may be challenging (they’re meant to be), but that he hopes his views don’t upset people too much. He points out that we all have our own views. His intention with his work is to “…demythologise Christian doctrines…” in an attempt to prevent young people leaving the Church – to challenge our perceptions of the Bible, rather than to give up on religion. He feels that many young people today don’t believe in the miracles of the Bible, and therefore ditch religion, rather than explore its deeper meaning, adding that in today’s world particularly, “we need love, compassion, forgiveness and tolerance.”
His book was originally published in America, by an academic publishing house in Oregon. He claims that British publishers were not keen on his brand of poetry. They wanted something more “meek and mild.” He explains that the poems are organised into clusters – creation and Bible poems, God’s hell and incarnation, Christmas and Nativity stories, Jesus and the Crucifixion, Church and the ministry, culture and the cosmos and then an epic poem at the end which summarises everything. Not his choice, David adds, but the publisher’s choice.
His objectives he tells us are “…to revitalise the church and reshape its future for the current declining congregation.” He goes on to tell us that the amount of clergy is declining, fewer young people are entering the church and money is also declining. With all of this in mind, David aims to get people to explore the Church’s meaning in today’s world, rather than to simply abandon it. In 1963, David informs us, there were 20,000 clergy in the Church of England. Today there are just 7,000.

David claims that because young people are very scientifically literate today, they therefore do not believe in the idea of miracles. David hopes that his poetry will urge people to consider that there is more to Christianity than that. He feels that Christianity is often taught as history and as something that actually happened, whereas the New Testament is “… mythology and stories…” and is to do with …”the meaning behind what it says.”

David goes on to read us the first poem in his book entitled Horses for Courses. An angry tone runs through his poems – he says he’s angry about what is happening to his Church. There are many things going on that make people angry – war, consumerism, child abuse etc., and with these things happening, where does that leave the place of the Church?
David explains to us where he believes the challenge to Christian doctrine started. He believes that it began with the school nativity play. The problem is, he says, that children believe the literal story, rather than exploring a deeper meaning. We should, he says, be asking “What does it mean?” rather than “Did it happen?” He then proceeds to play a reading by Hugh Bonneville of his poem “Midnight Mass.” exploring how the Christian message is somewhat lost in the New Year and the Christmas spirit quickly vanishes.
David asks, has the Church mired the true message – love tolerance, forgiveness etc? He feels that the Church has lost contact with this and tells us “… he doesn’t have many friends amongst bishops.”
David has been asked many times, why write a poetry book rather than a theological study? He explains that “…a single, short poem can sum up an entire theology … you can take liberties with poems.” He reads us a quote from an endorsement to his book, describing poetry as “…words so twisted and so pressed that they express the matter more densely and more subtly than if they were left to their own devices.”
The creative process involved David working on his books for a year – one poem was previously written but the rest were all written for the book. The writing of his book, he says, became an obsession. The book has seven chapters, 134 poems. He constantly revised his poems, stripping away until “… the meaning was left.”
David finishes with one final poem, Sea of Faith which he describes as his “effort to correct some dodgy doctrine.”
A very thought-provoking talk and a clear demonstration of the power of poetry.