John Looker
@johnlooker.bsky.social
Poems in the anthology of the Austin International Poetry Festival, the anthology of NZ’s Caselberg international competition and journals incl Magma, Poetry Salzburg, Artemis (USA). Books by Bennison Books.
Lives in SE England. johnlooker.wordpress.com/
Lives in SE England. johnlooker.wordpress.com/
All of us must:
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
All of us must:
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
I’ve been rereading Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal. Well, this is November isn’t it. And perhaps there's a touch of 1938 in the air too.
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
November 6, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I’ve been rereading Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal. Well, this is November isn’t it. And perhaps there's a touch of 1938 in the air too.
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
Woods … … path … … autumn … …
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
November 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Woods … … path … … autumn … …
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
“Poetry, like all good writing, forbids either ‘head’ or ‘heart’ to flourish at the other’s expense.”
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
November 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
“Poetry, like all good writing, forbids either ‘head’ or ‘heart’ to flourish at the other’s expense.”
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
Art … and botany … and architecture. At Kew Gardens on Saturday. Beautiful isn’t it?
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Art … and botany … and architecture. At Kew Gardens on Saturday. Beautiful isn’t it?
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
"Poetry" said Wallace Stevens "is my way of making the world palatable."
I've taken this out of context but I realise that for a long time now I've been writing poems that help me face the dreadful times we're living through.
Is this true for others?
#poetry #creativewriting #theworld
I've taken this out of context but I realise that for a long time now I've been writing poems that help me face the dreadful times we're living through.
Is this true for others?
#poetry #creativewriting #theworld
October 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM
"Poetry" said Wallace Stevens "is my way of making the world palatable."
I've taken this out of context but I realise that for a long time now I've been writing poems that help me face the dreadful times we're living through.
Is this true for others?
#poetry #creativewriting #theworld
I've taken this out of context but I realise that for a long time now I've been writing poems that help me face the dreadful times we're living through.
Is this true for others?
#poetry #creativewriting #theworld
I’m rereading Notre Dame de Paris. Victor Hugo could hardly be accused of understatement or subtlety.
I’d forgotten the rôle of the crowd: how the mood of the populace, easily led, swings between extremes. It’s the crowd that’s truly the monster.
#literature #novels #society
I’d forgotten the rôle of the crowd: how the mood of the populace, easily led, swings between extremes. It’s the crowd that’s truly the monster.
#literature #novels #society
September 23, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I’m rereading Notre Dame de Paris. Victor Hugo could hardly be accused of understatement or subtlety.
I’d forgotten the rôle of the crowd: how the mood of the populace, easily led, swings between extremes. It’s the crowd that’s truly the monster.
#literature #novels #society
I’d forgotten the rôle of the crowd: how the mood of the populace, easily led, swings between extremes. It’s the crowd that’s truly the monster.
#literature #novels #society
Some explanation!
September 5, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Some explanation!
This, looked at one way,
Appears to be the clear and certain path
We plan to take.
But wait, it could be we are looking back
And rueing fragrant paths we might have taken …
#abitofverse #poetry #photography #life
Appears to be the clear and certain path
We plan to take.
But wait, it could be we are looking back
And rueing fragrant paths we might have taken …
#abitofverse #poetry #photography #life
August 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This, looked at one way,
Appears to be the clear and certain path
We plan to take.
But wait, it could be we are looking back
And rueing fragrant paths we might have taken …
#abitofverse #poetry #photography #life
Appears to be the clear and certain path
We plan to take.
But wait, it could be we are looking back
And rueing fragrant paths we might have taken …
#abitofverse #poetry #photography #life
Interesting review in the TLS of two fairly recent collections from the US poet Diane Seuss – published in Britain in February.
What Seuss has to say about Keats’ insanitary habits came as a surprise. “But the nightingale“ she says:–
#poetry #literature @thetls.bsky.social
What Seuss has to say about Keats’ insanitary habits came as a surprise. “But the nightingale“ she says:–
#poetry #literature @thetls.bsky.social
August 17, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Interesting review in the TLS of two fairly recent collections from the US poet Diane Seuss – published in Britain in February.
What Seuss has to say about Keats’ insanitary habits came as a surprise. “But the nightingale“ she says:–
#poetry #literature @thetls.bsky.social
What Seuss has to say about Keats’ insanitary habits came as a surprise. “But the nightingale“ she says:–
#poetry #literature @thetls.bsky.social
I've just paid attention to the cover of the latest issue of @pnreview.bsky.social
Painted by Marsden Hartley it has the title 'Weary of the Truth'
Heavens, this seems on target for our times!
#poetry #art #USA #truth
Painted by Marsden Hartley it has the title 'Weary of the Truth'
Heavens, this seems on target for our times!
#poetry #art #USA #truth
August 12, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I've just paid attention to the cover of the latest issue of @pnreview.bsky.social
Painted by Marsden Hartley it has the title 'Weary of the Truth'
Heavens, this seems on target for our times!
#poetry #art #USA #truth
Painted by Marsden Hartley it has the title 'Weary of the Truth'
Heavens, this seems on target for our times!
#poetry #art #USA #truth
A double mystery:
Why was I never taught about the West African emperor Mansa Musa, his wealth, his learning?
And what happened to his elder brother who abdicated, sailed the Atlantic and vanished with his fleet?
The penultimate poem in my series on historic journeys.
#poems #poetry #journey
Why was I never taught about the West African emperor Mansa Musa, his wealth, his learning?
And what happened to his elder brother who abdicated, sailed the Atlantic and vanished with his fleet?
The penultimate poem in my series on historic journeys.
#poems #poetry #journey
August 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I have mixed feelings about the next poem I’ll post in my series.
It retells the story of a medieval West African emperor of huge wealth who rode in state to Mecca while his brother sailed out into the Atlantic and vanished.
It’s in free verse but too close to prose for me now.
#poems #poetry
It retells the story of a medieval West African emperor of huge wealth who rode in state to Mecca while his brother sailed out into the Atlantic and vanished.
It’s in free verse but too close to prose for me now.
#poems #poetry
August 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
A journey's end is uncertain.
"Behind them lay the terrors of the great Atlantic crossing"
But
"Where was the promised soil aching for the plough?"
The 8th poem and my series is drawing to a close with each poem depicting the final stage of a different journey.
#poems #poetry #journey
"Behind them lay the terrors of the great Atlantic crossing"
But
"Where was the promised soil aching for the plough?"
The 8th poem and my series is drawing to a close with each poem depicting the final stage of a different journey.
#poems #poetry #journey
August 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I’m ashamed by how little I knew of the Ming dynasty Admiral Zheng He: the scale of his achievements, his humble origins.
This poem is about the man more than the journeys he made.
"Oh the years he's spent away, far from court
where the pale Confucianists' word is law!”
#poem #poetry #legend
This poem is about the man more than the journeys he made.
"Oh the years he's spent away, far from court
where the pale Confucianists' word is law!”
#poem #poetry #legend
August 3, 2025 at 1:13 PM
My 5th poem lauds a seafaring people – their skills and mental qualities.
"Onwards they sail, birds and bird-men carved on their craft.
Whatever propelled them, one momentous day
They left, a speck between the ocean and the sky"
#poems #poetry #journey #newzealand
"Onwards they sail, birds and bird-men carved on their craft.
Whatever propelled them, one momentous day
They left, a speck between the ocean and the sky"
#poems #poetry #journey #newzealand
July 31, 2025 at 4:36 PM
My 5th poem lauds a seafaring people – their skills and mental qualities.
"Onwards they sail, birds and bird-men carved on their craft.
Whatever propelled them, one momentous day
They left, a speck between the ocean and the sky"
#poems #poetry #journey #newzealand
"Onwards they sail, birds and bird-men carved on their craft.
Whatever propelled them, one momentous day
They left, a speck between the ocean and the sky"
#poems #poetry #journey #newzealand
“So why this madness? Maybe as a lad
his heart had danced with the ships sailing out from the port
from Tangier, or swayed with the caravans leaving in line.”
Here’s the 2nd in a series of poems. This one, located in medieval North Africa, picks the moment of setting out on adventure.
#poems
his heart had danced with the ships sailing out from the port
from Tangier, or swayed with the caravans leaving in line.”
Here’s the 2nd in a series of poems. This one, located in medieval North Africa, picks the moment of setting out on adventure.
#poems
July 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
“So why this madness? Maybe as a lad
his heart had danced with the ships sailing out from the port
from Tangier, or swayed with the caravans leaving in line.”
Here’s the 2nd in a series of poems. This one, located in medieval North Africa, picks the moment of setting out on adventure.
#poems
his heart had danced with the ships sailing out from the port
from Tangier, or swayed with the caravans leaving in line.”
Here’s the 2nd in a series of poems. This one, located in medieval North Africa, picks the moment of setting out on adventure.
#poems
