I’m a fan of a good sonnet, as was Seamus Heaney, who differentiated between poetic form and shape: ‘There is a mistaken equivalence being made nowadays in this kind of talk about a return to form. A lot of people…
This much I know about…The Letters of Seamus Heaney
‘I’m writing immediately in case I don’t write at all – the usual thing is that I delude myself into thinking a moment will come when I can write the “real” letter.’ ‘Even at 63, I’ve not learned that what’s…
This much I know about…destitution in our beloved country
Yesterday, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a report entitled, “Destitution in the UK 2023”. I, on the other hand, spent most of the afternoon trying to find a parcel return centre. Dodgy QR codes and broken scanners meant walking six…
This much I know about…losing your hard-won expertise
If I’m honest, this is the most perceptive Amazon review of my first book, Love Over Fear: When I was 17 years old, I was pretty good at golf. As Sussex U18 champion two years in a row, I was,…
This much I know about…loneliness, postal workers and the current industrial dispute
Uckfield Post Office, 1955Harry Tomsett, second row, centre But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling…
This much I know about…Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” and the sonnet form
I have written about sonnets many times; Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” is a striking volume written entirely in that particular poetic form. “The Art of Teaching II” will resonate with every teacher in the land. You can read it here….
This much I know about…the time I was closest to my dad
Some 37 years to the day since he died, this much I know about the time I was closest to my dad. I was closest to my dad for two days in the summer of 1978 when I was just…
This much I know about…three very personal reasons why I think Boris Johnson has to go
I need to get this out of my system. My mother died of Covid-19 on 18 April 2020, in a care home 260 miles away, alone. I said my final goodbye to her via mobile ‘phone as I was not…
This much I know about…reaching the same age as my dad when he died
Uckfield Post Office, 1955Harry Tomsett, second row, centre My dad was a postman from the day he left school at the age of 14 until he died, 43 years later. I have written at length about him. His life story…
This much I know about…how nothing needs to matter too much
I turned 57 yesterday. It was no ordinary birthday. On the contrary, it was a landmark moment. I am now the same age as my Dad was when he died. When he was told he had weeks to live, Dad…