Other books that might interest you

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  WHAT - The Sunday Times...

  John Cooper Clarke

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  Read by the author, John Cooper Clarke.'Nothing short of dazzling' – Alex TurnerDr John Cooper Clarke's dazzling, scabrous voice has reverberated through pop culture for decades, his influence on generations of performance poets and musicians plain for all to see. In WHAT, the original 'People's Poet' comes storming out of the gate with an uproarious new collection, reminding us why he is one of Britain's most beloved writers and performers. James Brown, John F. Kennedy, Jesus Christ: nobody is safe from the punk rocker's acerbic pen – and that's just the first poem.Hot on the heels of The Luckiest Guy Alive and his sprawling, encyclopaediac memoir I Wanna Be Yours, the good Doctor returns with his most trenchant collection of poems yet. Vivid and alive, with a sensitivity only a writer with a life as varied and extraordinary as Cooper Clarke's could summon, WHAT is an exceptional collection from one of our foremost satirists.

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  Crooked Sticks Smouldering Wicks...

  Stephen Davis

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  Words for wanderers, troubled souls, kindred spirits.

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  On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

  John Milton

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  John Milton's On the Morning of Christ's Nativity is no ordinary Christmas poem. Written when he was just twenty-one, it reveals an early glimpse of the depth and ambition that would later shape Paradise Lost. Here, the nativity is not sentimental but cosmic: a quiet moment that echoes across heaven, earth, and myth.
  This is poetry as vision—blending classical imagery, biblical themes, and rich musical language. Angels descend, stars pause in wonder, and the natural world falls into a hush. Pagan gods retreat into silence, as if even they recognize the shift in power. The newborn Christ is portrayed not as a helpless child but as a divine force whose presence alters the very fabric of time and meaning.
  Milton's language is grand but not distant. Each stanza is alive with texture, rhythm, and the gravity of ideas beyond the page. This is not a poem that tells a story—it opens a door. And on the other side is a world both ancient and eternal, where poetry and theology walk hand in hand.
  Listeners will find here not just a work of seasonal reverence but a meditative, imaginative journey. It's a bold start from a young poet already aware of the weight of words—and how they can shape both heaven and earth.

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  Grandfather's Robin

  Gillian Bickley

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  Grandfather's Robin offers poems about People, Fellow Creatures, Society, Ekphrasis, Scenes and Moods, Survival, and Short Poems. They were written over several years, in response to people seen, read about, or known, and in response to creatures seen, read about, or known. Other poems respond to group and social behaviour, and reflect responses to works of art. Some poems are prompted by the natural world, urban and village life, and thoughts about the survival of all beings. The short poems offer instants both serious and humorous. 
  “So many reasons to enjoy Gillian Bickley’s luminous poetry – humour, depth and wisdom. ... Lovely and evocative, Bickley’s powers of observation and precise, selective description lend many of these poems the power of fine portraiture, a sepia photograph, where we see into the eyes, where we discover essence.” 
  — Jack Mayer, poet (Poems from the Wilderness) 
  “In this work, Gillian Bickley affords us a glimpse into her perspective. She invites us to reflect on the rich tapestry of life and our shared human experience. Why should you read this collection? Because there is no greater privilege than intimacy.” 
   —Mary-Jane Newton poet (Of Symbols Misused, Unlocking) 
    
   “... poems as moments of tranquility in which we can encounter lives unrolling in times that ... are anything but. To make a record such as this is a good resolution indeed, and I am pleased that Gillian has chosen for the cover a moment of tranquility I painted. As Mrs. Dorothy Collins might have said, reflecting, as these poems do, the quietness of a life-long practice, ‘Very well!’” 
  —Steven Schroeder, Chicago

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  The Ballad of a Nun - A decadent...

  John Davidson

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  John Davidson was born at Barrhead, East Renfrewshire on 11th April 1857.  
  In 1862 his family moved to Greenock and there he began his education at Highlanders' Academy.  Davidson would now spend many years at school and the beginnings of a career in various industries before gaining employment in various schools. 
  By now literature was a large part of his activities and his first published work was ‘Bruce, A Chronicle Play’ in 1886. Four other plays quickly followed including the somewhat brilliant pantomimic ‘Scaramouch in Naxos’ (1889). 
  With his reputation gradually providing an income he was also able to explore his true medium; Verse.  ‘In a Music Hall and Other Poems’ (1891) together with ‘Fleet Street Eclogues’ (1893) were ample proof that he possessed a quite rare, genuine and distinctive poetic gift.   
  Davidson now turned further and further towards verse. In 1894 he published his most popular volume, ‘Ballads and Songs’ (1894), and this was followed by a further ‘Fleet Street Eclogues’ (Second Series) (1896) and by ‘New Ballads’ (1897) and ‘The Last Ballad’ (1899). 
  As the new century dawned Davidson was hard at work on a series of ‘Testaments’, in which he gave definite expression to his philosophy and were published over a seven year period; ‘The Testament of a Vivisector’ (1901), ‘The Testament of a Man Forbid’ (1901), ‘The Testament of an Empire Builder’ (1902), and ‘The Testament of John Davidson’ (1908).  
  However, on 23rd March 1909, with his finances in ruins, the onset of cancer and profound hopelessness and clinical depression he left his house for the last time.  His body was only found on September 18th by some local fishermen.

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  Don't Leave Me With Her - Short...

  Dr. Amr Mounir

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  How technological development and artificial intelligence can affect our human relationships. Can machines replace human connections?

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