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On The Ropes

Another very hot day in London.

Tony Blair tongue-lashing the EU with his brand of "British pragmatism" (would that be common-sensical Newton, Hobbes, Smith, Locke, Pope and Hume vs. irrational Brahe, Rousseau, Rimbaud, Marx, Freud, and Derrida, by any chance?) - and Tim Henman (sadly if predictably) being knocked out of Wimbledon in the second round. Henmania in 05 is not what Beatlemania was in 65, to be sure.

Speaking of being on the ropes - delight of authors everywhere - a good review arrived in the post today, which I read over tea in the shade. It is for my latest collection of poems, Rue du Regard (sometimes mis-spelled, or is that mis-spelt as Rue de Regarde); if you google the title you'll discover it is a famous little street in Paris on which lived prime minsters and a psychoanalyst.

The review is in Ropes, issue 13, sub-titled untwined: a fine-looking Creative Writing Grad Student production out of Ireland, with an Introduction by Patrick McCabe (The Butcher Boy).

Basically, the review says my poems deserve "a far wider audience" due to my poetry's combination of "lyricism, irony and honesty" and that's pleasant to hear. Thank you for that. Now if we can only do something to help Tim. I've given up on Tony.

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