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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
Words of wisdom as old parrot speaks out
Andy Croft reviews some of the latest poetry
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
Dannie Abse has published over 30 books but few as satisfying or as enjoyable as Speak Old Parrot (Hutchinson, £15).
Now in his 90th year, Abse is naturally concerned with the passage of time: "profligate, I wasted time/- those yawning postponements on rainy days,/those paperhat hours of benign frivolity./Now time wastes me."
There are some great poems here about the comedy of ageing, like The Old Gods - Trident has lost his trident, Saturn has time on his hands and Bacchus has cirrhosis of the liver - and some fine poems about youth and memory like Cricket Bat, Moonbright and Sunbright.
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ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east