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| Image from International Times |
Two more sonnets from Bad
Idea (my transpositions of sonnets by Michael Drayton from his sequence Idea, that being the name of his ‘lady’)
appear on International Times. They
are LVII, which is about Bo (Boris Johnson) and his ‘vision’ of the world, and
LVIII, which features the various carves-up of the nation pending if Bo takes
us out of the EU. Idea appears in each poem, as its muse. In the first she
considers dogging (due to become the national sport after Brexit); in the
second she flees with revulsion from Bo, Moggy and Co. The huge insensitivity
to Ireland’s historical ‘relationship’
to Britain
is played upon; ‘Murphy’ is what Bo calls the Taoiseach, apparently. To bring the two themes together, a later sonnet shows Bo
waltzing the Taoiseach around the Wirral wherewodwos await the worm on public footpaths(obscure moist bridals)
You may read the two poems HERE. http://internationaltimes.it/idea/
Two previous poems from the sequence may be read HERE
and I write about that pair HERE: https://robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2019/11/robert-sheppard-two-sonnets-from-bad.html
Another four
consecutive poems from Bad Idea (XLV-XLVIII) were published together in International
Times earlier this year! HERE
Thanks poetry editor Rupert Loydell for publishing them. They feel very timely.
Thanks poetry editor Rupert Loydell for publishing them. They feel very timely.
See here
for a hubpost concerning the writing of these 64 versions of Michael
Drayton’s Idea.
I am currently working on the sequel to Bad Idea, Idea’s Mirror, and these sonnets are being posted
temporarily, one at a time, on this blog. If you look, you’ll find them. This
post explains. The larger sonnet project is entitled The English Strain. 2021: Book
One of ‘The English Strain’ project, The English Strain, is available
from Shearsman Books here:
https://www.shearsman.com/store/Sheppard-Robert-c28271934?offset=6
Book
Two, Bad Idea is available from Knives Forks and Spoons, HERE: https://www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk/product-page/bad-idea-by-robert-sheppard-102-pages
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| Idea considering the outdoor life on the Wirral |
