. 8. Along the stripling Thames: in search of the Scholar Gipsy

As mentioned in the section “literary nationalism” (‘the river ran red: literary wars’), the so-called ‘poetry wars’ of the early ’90s left me in a state of considerable expasperation for many reasons, one of which was the charge that to write in rhyme and meter was to place oneself in a relationship of indentured servitude [...]

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10. The body in the river: hard-boiled sonnets

A washed-up private eye with drinking problems and women problems.  My personal expertise kind of ends with the last two categories.  About the rest: police procedurals, investigative techniques, I’m still doing the research.  And I’m in need of a working plot.  No idea where this one is going.  But I’m at ease with the protagonist, Cramer, who speaks for [...]

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