This poem is another written recently and pretty fast, though some aspects of it have been fermenting for quite a while, I suspect.
But the immediate catalyst was Prime Minister’s Question Time last Wednesday (November 30th). Starmer talked about Winchester College (public school) and the exemption from VAT enjoyed by these long-established playing fields (and citadels) of wealth and privilege.… continue reading
Four New Poems
1/ ‘In the Cathedral‘ is in 5 short parts. 2/ ‘Word-Finding‘ is in 5 short parts. 3/ ‘Dancing in a Daze’ is of 1 part, but there are ‘notes’ overleaf. 4/ ‘Rowing‘ is of one part. I seem to have stopped spluttering helplessly and hopelessly in prose, in response to present-day developments within… continue reading
For relevant Notes, see previous post !… continue reading
Notes :
The Parrot has been speechless for quite a while now. But in the fairly recent past, leading up to the UK Brexit vote, this bird in a cage had quite a lot to say. See Parrot-Addenda-distilled-2.pdf (roganwolf.com)
The Parrot is an old friend of mine, borrowed from John Skelton, a poet in the reign of Henry 8th. Skelton… continue reading
Poems for Rising Ten
I run a project called Poems for the wall. A new collection for the project is now complete. It is called Poems for Rising Ten and is for children approaching the end of their time in primary school.
There are 25 poems in this new collection, each one accompanied by art work. In most cases, the images are not… continue reading
Here in the UK, knowing that it’s National Poetry Day today, I have just written the poem above. Things seem to happen faster in old age. The name Danby in the poem’s text refers to John F. Danby, a literary critic who wrote a rather wonderful book called ‘Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature – A Study of King Lear.’ The book’s… continue reading
Click on the text and the poem will expand a bit and be easier to read. It had to be this small, to fit onto a single page.
Only a few months ago, we were celebrating the Platimum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, a living symbol of stability among so much in the world that is anything but stable. But then,… continue reading
September 6th was, of course, the date on which Mr Johnson stood down as prime minister of the UK. On the other hand, the poem (in its two parts) might be described as a celebration of adolescence, a developmental stage in which the growing human being discovers and explores self, its wonders, its powers and its boundaries.
But human society… continue reading