SWEARING AT THE TELLY

GRAND REOPENING of neglected blog. I've decided to return to my old habit of talking to myself - It's therapeutic. Facebook, Schma...

SOME WORDS FROM A DISTANT COUNTRY, MY BOYHOOD English was, of course, the language of my childhood, but with a few words not universally r...

National Poetry Day. I can't let it pass unacknowledged. This is a poem I'm liking at the moment. AEGEAN (Maria Luisa Spaziani) ...

Last year I posted a piece that referred to the mysterious Voynich Manuscript. Now I learn that a publisher has purchased the right to pub...

"The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming.

"I don't mean to sound naive and think everybody will come round if they are spoken to nicely, but I think a lot of people who say ...

Oh, their mothers are so proud of them.

Every little hurts, as someone once said.

GIORDANO BRUNO (Edwin Morgan) innumerable worlds and worlds unmade, half-made, the universe immense, displayed, half-hidden, hidden, in...

I copied this charm from a book of Highland (Gaelic) verse in translation. This particular translation is by Alexander Carmichael and was re...

Alexander the Great, the plonky who conquered the world. WINE (Raymond Carver) Reading a life of Alexander the Great, Alexander whos...

"Carol Ann Dunn was born and raised in Liverpool but has lived in Leeds for over 30 years, working as a teacher and trainer across West...

SULTAN (Nizar Qabbani) If I were promised safety, if I could meet the Sultan I would say to him: O my lord the Sultan! my cloak has be...

"Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland" published 1754 though written 1726. I'm reading a reprint of this work at the...