The People’s Favourite Poems. Out and about with Kipling, Larkin and the rest
by
Gary Dexter
Published
September 2018
Publishers
UK
Old Street
A unique anthology of the poems that matter most to people, from Kipling’s If- to Hopkin’s Pied Beauty.
When a mystery eye condition made looking at a screen impossible, Gary Dexter had to rethink how to earn a living. His solution? Learn 100s of famous poems then hit the streets, approaching passers-by and offering to recite their favourite for cash.
His new calling soon drags him far beyond his comfort zone. A woman orders to ‘sway like a daffodil’ as he performs Wordsworth’s floral classic; a security guard marches him out of Primark while he defiantly intones Invictus; a drunken soldier mourning a fallen comrade requests Auden’s Funeral Blues but turns nasty when the nervous performer fluffs a line.
In a series of remarkable encounters, Dexter finds out which poems people really love, and why. The result is an authentic, funny and original twist on a familiar format – a poetry collection for our times.
When a mystery eye condition made looking at a screen impossible, Gary Dexter had to rethink how to earn a living. His solution? Learn 100s of famous poems then hit the streets, approaching passers-by and offering to recite their favourite for cash.
His new calling soon drags him far beyond his comfort zone. A woman orders to ‘sway like a daffodil’ as he performs Wordsworth’s floral classic; a security guard marches him out of Primark while he defiantly intones Invictus; a drunken soldier mourning a fallen comrade requests Auden’s Funeral Blues but turns nasty when the nervous performer fluffs a line.
In a series of remarkable encounters, Dexter finds out which poems people really love, and why. The result is an authentic, funny and original twist on a familiar format – a poetry collection for our times.