Poetry: is all new to me. Some of you will think this is no big deal, but I’m reading Noël Coward’s "Collected Verse" and now Thomas Hardy’s "Selected Poems".
It’s new to me, it feeds a need in my life right now. In those moments of introspection, which can be quite short, a passage of prose is just the right  dose.
Thomas Hardy initially seems more difficult of the two, but I am sure I will get used to the language. A colleague lent me this copy today, she must have had it since college days as it has been annotated throughout. I love annotated books, second hand books are great for this. Thanks Sarah– I will look after it.

Coward made his living as a song-writer but he says he made an effort to move away from the rigid rhythms and write more freely in his prose. I am really quite excited by all of this; the fact that just a page can hold a thought, one that deserves to stand on its own- not part of a plot or scene. It’s really something, something powerful. As I have said elsewhere, there is a universe in the little things, those often overlooked and deserve close attention. These small pages with a few hundred words do the looking in close-up.
It’s been over ten years since I read any poetry- and that was Spike Milligan. This life is changing (hold on, I don’t have any others).