Poets’ Corner
I recently sat in a local restaurant enjoying a pizza. Nothing unusual in that except I was surrounded by stained glass, an organ and altar rails as this pizza parlour had formerly been a church. The pizza ovens were right in front of the altar space and I felt uncomfortable and indeed guilty. Much as I approve of redundant churches being given a new lease of life rather than crumble into ruin, I am saddened that religion means so little today.
Soon after my pizza experience a new book entitled Building Jerusalem: Elegies on Parish Churches arrived on my desk for review and I was instantly captivated by this anthology (Bloomsbury, hardback, £16.99).
Edited by Kevin J. Gardner, a world expert on the work of Sir John Betjeman, it is a superb selection of poems on English churches that invoke both the beauty of what we have and poignancy of what we have lost. Philip Larkin, U. A. Fanthorpe, C. Day-lewis, Simon Armitage, Ted Hughes, Andrew Motion, Fleur Adcock, Rowan Williams and Sir John Betjeman are just a few of the many poets whose work is included.
I have selected this poem by Michael Henry on one of London’s most famous churches.
Another book I’ve received is the work of This England reader Arthur Baskerville who was born in Cheshire in 1938. Arthur has always been interested in writing and has had both poetry and short stories published. Making Tracks (Downland Press, Owls’ Castle, Easton Common Hill, Winterslow, Wiltshire SP5 1QD, paperback, £5.95) is a collection of poems that are a lifetime’s observations encompassed in a wide variety of form and style ranging from witty and humorous to wistful and thoughtful. Here are two of his poems that I am sure will provoke a fellow feeling in many readers.