MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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Paul Birtill - Claimant
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
Claimant
Paul Birtill
We got talking in a bar
and I took her back to my flat.
I suppose I was trying to impress her,
and told her I was a published author,
wrote poetry and plays, mentioned that
several had been staged at London theatres,
and that my poems had been in national newspapers.
'You're on the dole,' she said, pointing at my UB40
on the mantelpiece.
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ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event