The Rough, the Smooth and the Quirky
Description
Written in unpretentious and easy-flowing rhyming couplets, 'The Rough, the Smooth and the Quirky' is a thoughtful condensation of experience and reflection, with themed sections full of stories and insights into contemporary life.
'Ties of the Heart' focuses on the deeply felt - friendships, influences and relationships, while 'Liftoffs' presents poems inspired by the author's wide-ranging travels. Webster then looks at issues at the forefront of contemporary minds, with 'Words on the Woke' exploring the 'Woke' phenomenon, 'No Such Thing as Infidel' looking at aspects of Islam and its presence in the West, and 'Stanzas on Ukraine' presenting verses written as Putin's infamous invasion took place. Following two political fables (involving Lord Byron and The Beatles), the collection concludes by looking at human aspects of the globalised world we inhabit.
'The Rough, the Smooth and the Quirky' navigates subjects that are challenging, delightful and off-beat, aiming to 'tell it like it is' and keep a sense of humour - and hope - in the process.
More details
Content
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', 'Somewhere in this City', 'Chennai: 'When I Checked in for Dental Health', '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 Poem', 'On Shafilea Ahmed', 'An Incident in Peshawar', 'These Baklava On My Plate (I Sing of Bad Theology)', 'A Poem for Gaza's Young', 'A Praise Song'
STANZAS ON UKRAINE: 'From 1968 to 2022...', 'What Gives You the Right?', 'Law No More, '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, PHOTOGRAPHS
