A mystery: on the hottest day of the epoch the postwoman delivered this book to me – WET! I’ve had to dry it out before reading. How did she do that?! #books #poetry #weather

This is such a remarkable book. I first read it five years ago. This time I am reading extremely slowly, not for the plot but for the insights. #books #literature #klaraandthesun

We came across another magnificent tree this week. Impressive isn’t it?! Time to post my bit of verse again: These are not trees to hug. Rather I would bow or tug, if I wore one, my forelock. Or even kowtow. #poetry #verse #nature

I have a hunch Elizabeth Jennings' poetry will go through successive periods of new appreciation. It's the intelligence at work. On her centenary I've been rereading, prompted by Michael Schmidt in PNR 290 and Daljit Nagra on BBC Radio4's Poetry Extra. #poetry @pnreview.bsky.social #BBCRadio4

These are not trees to hug. Rather I would bow or tug, if I wore one, my forelock. Or even kowtow. #trees #poetry #verse

A bulletin from the bee-loud glade. #bees #photos #Yeats

There’s a lot of interest in Homer’s Odyssey at present, isn’t there, with Christopher Nolan’s film. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I wrote 8 poems retelling highlights of the story but with a woman, Odyssea, in a modern setting. If anyone is curious, here’s the final poem. #Odyssey #poetry

I've been thinking about the little bird that got stuck in our kitchen. Keats having omitted to compose his Ode to a Blue Tit, I've had a go myself. (You're welcome 😂) #poetry #birds #bathos

Here’s an example of why I like this text of Ulysses: Among the many errors of the 1922 edition was the omission of this thought of Stephen Dedalus: ‘Do you know what you are talking about? Love, yes. Word known to all men.’ It’s an important clue to a later scene. (Cont) #bloomsday #ulysses

Wonderful book. Wish I'd bought it earlier. I discovered H.D.'s imagiste poems when I was 18 but really switched on to her years later when I found The Walls Do Not Fall. This selection has a v helpful introduction on the evolution of her poetry. #poetry #carcanet

“… wondering about the wiring of the brain where does it get its information?…” (from Falling Asleep on New Year’s Day) There’s a special grin I wear when I’m reading Bill Manhire’s poems. I do also wonder about the wiring of his brain! #poetry @pacificraft.bsky.social @carcanet.bsky.social

Does anyone else like this novel as I do? Just completed a second rereading. Ingenious plot. Characters that call for an emotional response. Literary allusions. Ideas. I love it. #books

British understatement explained.

I’m chuffed with this recent purchase from a charity shop: an 1874 edition of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. A very British poetry anthology. I well remember this book from my childhood. It was one of the rich collection of books left us by my mother’s father. Oh nostalgia! #poetry #books

The woods are magical here in southern England now. It’s time for my annual paean: The bluebells are back. Their caravan pauses here: They know this place. #haiku #poem #Spring

So it’s Spring. QED. #spring

“It will be alright in the end I suppose.“ “Yes, everything’s for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” “That’s the spirit. Keep smiling.”

A curious recent find in a 2nd hand shop: an anthology published in 1945. Some modernist poets. Some Georgians. Some names I’d never come across. Republished later with extra poems collated by Edith Sitwell. I found a single (scornful) review online: The Spectator, July 1945. I like it. #poetry

For international poetry day, how about sharing memories of the first poetry books we ever bought? This was mine. Bought when I was 18. It lived up to its name, introducing me to plenty of poets no one had ever told me about. #InternationalPoetryDay #poetry

Here we are: in England today, it’s Spring with a zing! #Spring

A personal discovery: American poet Henri Coulette 1927–88. Love his poems in @pnreview.bsky.social 288. How about ‘The Renaissance in England’ which begins 'Wyatt takes up his quill. Henry has spoken. Newfangleness goes gadding hereabout. Farewell is honed and every promise broken’ #poetry

You are right! The town is Banbury. Congratulations, and you shall have a prize: here (just for you of course) is the old English rhyme which explains the statue and which is written around the base:

Finally a photo pulling the clues together:

And the final clue. Which town were we passing through? #England #history

Where were we? Here’s the second clue: #England #history #sculpture

Would anyone who knows historic English towns care to guess where we were yesterday? Here’s the first of three clues: #England #history #churches

There’s something about driverless cars that really bothers me. Who decides what they should do in an emergency? This thought took form in a poem. “It was a long hot day And three philosophers emerged from the workshop For a cool beer in the shade.” Here’s the full poem: #poem #AI

They seem to be everywhere! #poetry #haiku #snowdrops

I’m rereading. The writing is absolutely exquisite: concise, witty, rich. This for example about the Viceroy of Peru: “… a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue” #books #literature

It’s that time of year again, thank heavens: Suddenly, snowdrops. They bring news, intelligence, of plans being made. #poems #haiku #photos #snowdrops