A TONIC FOR OUR TIMES!
A NEW COLLECTION OF POEMS NAVIGATING A
RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD
In a world grappling with complexity and contradiction,
Oxford-based Anglo-Scottish writer John Webster
offers a bold and lyrical response in his new collection of poems.
The Rough, the Smooth and the Quirky both touches on contested issues
– in the belief that poetry can make its own unique contribution to such concerns –
and explores more universal topics as well.
So the opening section, 'Ties of the Heart', references
troubled minds, the depth of friendship revealed by mortality,
and namechecks figures such as Benjamin Zephaniah, John Martyn,
E.P. Thompson, Mary Shelley and the author's father.
Then, in ‘Lift-Offs’, poems inspired by the author’s travels
provide insights into our world ‘in all its fascinating range’.
After ‘Words on the Woke’ lays out a series of wry, penetrating insights
into the Woke phenomenon, another section, ‘No Such Thing as Infidel’,
takes a nuanced look at tensions between Islam and the West,
drawing on the author’s experience of travelling in Muslim-majority countries
and suggesting paths toward mutual coexistence.
'Stanzas on Ukraine' features verses written over the course of Russia's
infamous invasion, ending with 'Ukraine Dreamin' which channels a
Russian dissenter's constructive vision of a possible future for the two countries.
Then, again giving a sense of possibility and perspective,
two imaginative tales feature, firstly, The Beatles - in a political fable
‘In which Hitler has a nightmare – of a Yellow Submarine’ –
and then, an encounter between Lord Byron and Joe Biden, in which they
exchange thoughts about Afghanistan and Byron’s role
in the Greek War of Independence. The collection closes by focusing on
how the globalised world affects individuals and families,
ending with brief meditative afterthoughts.
Composed in easy-flowing rhyming couplets with the cadence of English balladry,
the poems aim to ‘tell it like it is’, without losing humour or hope.
'The Rough, the Smooth and the Quirky: Poems for a Complicated World'
is a tonic for our times, inviting readers to laugh,
think and feel their way through our rapidly-moving era.
Available now on Amazon here
and from bookshops quoting ISBN 978-1-0683328-6-9
Paperback £9.99, e-book £4.99
Contents
TIES OF THE HEART
A Gallant Ship, For a Godson, For Benjamin,
The Major, his Brother, and his Never Lived-with Lover,
John Martyn encountered, Is There a Sense?, Mary and the Legacy, For Mark
LIFT-OFFS
The Plane was Late, From the Skies, For Jenny and Chris, en route to Nice,
The Dying Glacier, Thank You, Fog the Second, Stonehaven,
Aberdeen: Byron’s Broad Street Boyhood, ‘Beatles Ashram’, Rishikesh,
Chennai: ‘When I Checked in for Dental Health’, Somewhere in this City,
When There is an Onion Shortage, The Weightiest Places I Have Been,
‘Lerici is Always Charming’, Thank you – To Who?
WORDS ON ‘THE WOKE’
It’s a Woke World – Hurray!, Apropos ‘Appropriation’,
There Was a Time Our Own Sir Keir, On the Return of Donald Trump,
Black Lives Matter (said Lord Bentinck)
Don’t Think Black, Don’t Think White,
And On the Mighty Orientalists
NO SUCH THING AS INFIDEL
If Stratford Could Speak, The Words Were Carefully Chosen,
Lebanese Girl Story, On Shafilea Ahmed, An Incident in Peshawar,
These Baklava On My Plate (I Sing of Bad Theology), A Praise Song
STANZAS ON UKRAINE
From 1968 to 2022…, Law No More, What Gives You the Right?,
He’s Just a Common Thief, Ukraine Dreamin’, …and On To 2025
A BYRONIC FABLE, In which Lord Byron and Joe Biden
reflect on Afghanistan and Greece
A BEATLES FABLE, In which Hitler has a nightmare
about a Yellow Submarine
FORWARD THINKING
The Rise of Diasporic Lives,
For Those Unborn, A Maxim: All I Can Do
NOTES, REFERENCES
AND PHOTOGRAPHS
