2017

A Catalpa Tree On West Twelfth Street

Here again - for the summer solstice - are those Wittenham Clumps. By the early 1940s Nash’s was in declining…

7 years ago

Under One Small Star

Forget the mother of all bombs and the father of all mankind - here is the ultimate parent of all…

7 years ago

To look at any thing

"My boy you should go in for nature." Sir William Richmond's advice to Paul Nash on reviewing some of his…

7 years ago

The Poltroon

Poltroon - the very word is like a ... what? a.) A North American mammal of the raccoon family known…

7 years ago

The Dancers

The Dancers All day beneath the hurtling shells Before my burning eyes Hover the dainty demoiselles -- The peacock dragon-flies.…

7 years ago

How to Read a Poem: Beginner’s Manual

How to Read a Poem: Beginner’s Manual First, forget everything you have learned, that poetry is difficult, that it cannot…

7 years ago

The End and the Beginning

    The End and the Beginning After every war someone has to clean up. Things won’t straighten themselves up,…

7 years ago

Minor Miracle

A  bike ride in the country. A conversation interrupted by a near accident and the shock of a racist chance encounter.…

8 years ago

Blackbird

Blackbirds are notorious for being able to mimic the sounds they hear as they hop about the celestial chimney pots…

8 years ago

Two Lorries

Two Lorries  It's raining on black coal and warm wet ashes. There are tyre-marks in the yard, Agnew's old lorry…

8 years ago

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Sleeping is one of the things cats do best. Which is lucky because it limits the number of minutes and…

8 years ago

Aubade

An aubade is a poem or piece of music appropriate to the dawn or early morning. By the 1930's it was…

8 years ago

Moonlight

Moonlight What time the meanest brick and stone Take on a beauty not their own, And past the flaw of…

8 years ago

Abandoned Farmhouse

Abandoned Farmhouse He was a big man, says the size of his shoes on a pile of broken dishes by…

8 years ago

A Wartime Education

Britain declared war on Germany just after U.A. Fanthorpe's birthday in 1939. She was ten. Living in Kent she was…

8 years ago