Economic productivity

I have been thinking about "economic productivity". Since retiring (at 67), on a personal level and now on a socio-economic level. It is all over the news. "We must get Britain back to work..." But why? It appears that "economic productivity" has come to mean: working to enrich... who? The already wealthy? If that is … Continue reading Economic productivity

Setting off again: telling stories for love

I do departures. In about six weeks I will set off on a ten-day wilderness (well, Dartmoor) fast, "The Mead of Poetry", led by Tom Hirons and Rozalie (Rozi) Hilton. Before this I have preparation tasks: to complete a day-walk with only water and to write my life story, confidentially. The setting off is formal, … Continue reading Setting off again: telling stories for love

Hard work. Close reading. In translation.

What is translation in poetry? Some poets seem quite translatable: Pablo Neruda; Valérie Rouzeau? I don't know. Hard work. Close reading. In translation. Valérie Rouzeau, Pas Revoir (2003), translated by Susan Wicks as Cold Spring in Winter (2009). With an Introduction by Stephen Romer. Arc Publications, Todmorten, UK, 2009. The poem, or collection of poems … Continue reading Hard work. Close reading. In translation.

Small cosmos: virtual hypertext

Sometimes poems are not ABOUT one thing. But, I cannot say they simply ARE; the mere fact of their existence counts for little. It is not enough that a collection of words gets splattered on a page. I think of a poem as a small cosmos. Poems are both LIKE a small cosmos as well … Continue reading Small cosmos: virtual hypertext

It is about working in poetry

Mick Heron refers to "...anything for a sausage roll poets." A nod to (or at) the futile? Of course, he is right. But, I can make my own sausage rolls and do not need to compete with BAe or BP for a seriously-beyond-sausage-roll piece of the public purse to grift my my writing. So it … Continue reading It is about working in poetry

Curation note

Writing postcards in an Amsterdam brown bar a long time ago. Hello and welcome. I am recovering something through this blog. I recently started curating back pages, spurred on, in part, by quitting Twitter and engaging on Mastodon (https://mindly.social/@peaceful) through mindly.social and FediLab. I am making a new collection of poems, collecting as pages under … Continue reading Curation note

Calibrating? Connecting? Consistently? (1)

On one level. that is what we do. All the time. We are planners, time and distance travellers. How much? Will it get us there? Every time? That is what we mean. But where is the "there" to which we want to get? And for whom do we want to get there? And who we? … Continue reading Calibrating? Connecting? Consistently? (1)

Get back on the horse

I have stumbled back over my place for writing and this is a surprise for me. I remember him! I last posted here two and a half years ago and retired from full-time paid academic work a few months later (August 2020), as the Covid lockdowns in the UK were being violated by Boris Johnson's … Continue reading Get back on the horse

Higher education: sunk at the end of history?

A reply to Justine Andrew. ‘The Strategic Imperative: Planning for a Post-Covid Future’. Wonkhe. Justine Andrew in Wonkhe (6 May 2020) sets out a strategic approach to the big questions facing higher education: sector, institutions and their governors. She, at KPMG, uses the structure: React, Resilience, Recovery, Renewal and New Reality. I want to suggest … Continue reading Higher education: sunk at the end of history?