27
Apr
2020
The Marsh People
THE MARSH PEOPLE published by Victorina Press, is based on an experiment with dogs about learned helplessness.It’s a well known experiment conducted by Seligman, in which dogs are kept in wire cages with electrified walls, but are fed at regular intervals. After several weeks, the tops of the cages are removed. One or two of... Read More
27
Apr
2020
Remembering Bill Milner, poet missed in Market Drayton
I came across this poem, treasured and kept safe for years, as I was trying to clear my office of assorted junk. It’s a beautiful poem, which I think was written as a response to another poet writing in a different language. Bill Milner was translating La Fontaine just before he died, and was familiar... Read More
8
Apr
2020
NaNoRiMo
Three Sounds I Heard at Noon Today I listened. Only the windshaking the bamboo.A dry patter on the edge of something. Only time running away,only the ticking of the clock.Remorseless. Regular. Only the buzzardscircling the air,bleating high up, high up in the blue.
27
Feb
2020
Voice from the past – neglected poet – James Elroy Flecker
I re-read this poem recently and the last four lines really spoke to me. Who do we write for? Our children? Our children’s children? I find the words of past poets very comforting at times, that their words can span hundred of years and still have the power to move me. I who am dead... Read More
20
Sep
2019
Playing with Words
I’ve taken to opening the dictionary at random in quiet moments and choosing one word from the page in front of me. This time the word was hag, just a finger print down the page from haemorrhoid and haeremai (a Maori greeting) and up a bit from hagberry and hagbut. The definitions are fascinating: it’s... Read More
