It’s a mad world. Government changes to the English GCSE syllabus mean pupils will no longer study poems written after 1980. That’s a veto on the last 34 years’ poetic output, including most poems written by our current Poet Laureate!
My sonnet ‘Of Words and Trees’ is a response to this, and was written at a time when the Government was also considering weakening planning laws which protect ancient woodland. The poem was published in The Morning Star’s ‘Well Versed’ section last Thursday. To read it in full, click on: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e9a5-Claire-Booker-Of-Trees-and-Words#.UxnT1PnV9Bo
‘Well Versed’ is edited by Jody Porter. If you have a poem you would like to see published in The Morning Star, you can e-mail him at wveditor@gmail.com
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