In The Poetry

Variation On An Old Rhyme

This is the blackbird that wakes with a song.

This is the sun
That shines for the blackbird that wakes with a song.

This is the earth
That welcomes the sun
That shines for the blackbird that wakes with a song.

This is the snow that fell through the night
That covers the earth
That welcomes the sun
That shines [...]

Shortly after our return from the States, our first son was born, and then a little later I saw a television programme about four young ex- soldiers and the effects that the Vietnam war had had on them. It was called ‘The Haunted Heroes’ and I remember that what haunted me most about it was [...]

Several poets, in different ways, have attempted to combine jazz and poetry. As a jazz musician myself – I’m a clarinettist – I relish the conversation set up by improvisation, and what one music critic has described as the “sound of surprise”. I feel that I know exactly what the pianist Earl Hines meant when [...]

Serenade

Let be the laughter in the hanging gardens
and the dial ablaze, the green man
flourishing his sleeves and up to mischief,

where the cat extends and rolls its silver fur
across a sun-spot, where all points of light
play leap-frog dazzle in a water-bowl

and everything is animation, interlace,
the best of being here, a setting-down
on lease from shade and shadow, [...]