Poems of Circumstance

PREFACE

This Collection is a bit of a mixed bag. A murdered nurse, a shattered grave, a ghost ship, an incoming gang of aliens, a youngster in the steely grasp of drugs, together with the appearance of an angel, may not at first glance convince new viewers that they’ve landed in an oasis of poetic peace and light. However, give the poems a chance and they may grow on you! Micha the pier jumper is a splendid force for good, jumping off the end of Pittenweem’s pier on the last day of each year; and all for charity. The village children follow her in line, singing and shouting but don’t follow her over the edge! Nor should we overlook the hospital fire extinguisher, ready to leap into life-saving action when required.   The Songs of Babylon are newly added and I hope they can be part of a literary and artistic response to the tragedy they describe.

When you’ve read this Collection you may wonder what were the circumstances that led me to write these individual poems in the first place! I don’t know either. Yet some of you may accept the theory that human beings find themselves acting like butterflies, leaping and dancing from one flower of thought to another, without ever thinking it strange.

Dance on!