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Life Experience

Love Poetry Extraordinaire

LOVE POETRY EXTRAORDINAIRE I believe that many people may find a lot to relate to, argue about and be moved or amused by in my new book. How could you know? Poems about love has just been published by Amazon. It’s available as an ebook kindle download, or as a 100 page paperback. How do […]

Poem about Iraq

A poem about Iraq in 2003 Tony Blair’s visit to Southern Iraq early in 2003. He explained the wisdom of the war. MY  POEM A Message from Tony Blair to the People of Iraq (Written a few days after the start of the attacks by US and UK forces, March 2003. It has been claimed […]

Apple strudel – verses for St Valentine’s Day

Apple strudel – poem for St Valentine’s Day My darling, you are the apple strudel of my eye, naughty but nice. And yet, friends warn me that you are dangerous and I’ll live to regret that we ever met. I don’t agree, my delectable extrovert. Time will tell our fortune and I shall be content […]

Love is its own reward

Poem – Love is its own reward A poem for NHS workers and everyone in caring professions who go on caring for others, even though they don’t receive the recognition or respect or pay that they deserve. In spite of the main idea of the poem, love alone is not a sufficient reward.   Love […]

My new book of poems about love

My new book How could you know? –  Poems about love Love experienced, love observed, love examined from different angles, love in the context of human life in all its variety. – This is an exceptional book of love poetry. It goes beyond expressions of adoration, wonder, longing, and loss  –  the rhetoric of love […]

Climate change? – Poem – What little I know

This is me in the Mojave Desert, California, in 2009 Climate change is not new Ever since there have been climates on earth there has been climate change. Today we know that large areas of the earth are threatened by rising sea levels and other areas are threatened by droughts. Such problems have been common […]

A modern poem for Remembrance Day

One of nearly 400 memorials at The National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire A Hymn for Remembrance Sunday May be used as a prayer or sung to the music, Finlandia, by Jean Sibelius Grant peace, O Lord, across our strife-torn world,Where war divides and greed and dogma drive.Help us to learn the lessons from the past,That all […]

Remembrance Day – Sources of Remembrance Poems and Readings

The sculpture by Ian Rank-Broadley is perhaps the best known memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire. It was inspired by the Ancient Greek tradition of carrying dead heroes from the field of battle on a shield. Here the shield has been replaced by a stretcher and a grieving family has been […]

Poem – What do I know?

Poem – What do I know? What does anyone know? What do I know? The origin of the universe its scale its destiny are beyond my understanding. This earth so rich so poor so vulnerable so uncontrollable is all we have. I accept that I am less than a speck in the sandstorm of stars. […]

3 Ten-line poems – Heatwave, First day at uni, A heart in winter

I write the occasional poem. Here are three of them. Writing a poem in ten lines is a useful discipline. It concentrates the mind.  I think poems should pack as much meaning as they can in the fewest possible words. I am not a fan of gushing words, clever but meaning little. Heatwave The hottest […]

The ten-line poetry competition – My covid poem

For ten years the small town and port of Shoreham-by-Sea, on the south coast of England, just along the coast from Brighton, has had a thriving, popular literary festival. This year (2020) being the tenth anniversary of the festival the organisers decided to run another poetry competition. The requirement this year was for a ten […]