Tuesday 10 February 2015

Describes himself as a poet...

In the late sixties, I was married and living in West Square in the Elephant & Castle. From the bedroom the Imperial War Museum could be seen. One night an arsonist set it on fire as a protest against some echoing social wrong. I lay in bed and watched it burn.

Afterwards when the arsonist was arrested, the newspapers, adding a bit of biography, had it that he, '...described himself as a poet!'

This simple statement has kept me laughing down the decades. There are several categories covering the more esoteric professions - and poetry is certainly one of them..!

So a top, established poet would be described simply as, 'a poet'.

A slightly less well known one would be, '...a well known poet'.

A niche but known poet would be maybe, '...and established poet.

Less well known, but still out there, might be, '...said to be a poet'


No wonder arson was his day job! He didn't get '...described as a poet' (had friends who'd read his stuff) - or even, '...described by his mother as a poet!'

No, he had only one fan - as he, "...DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS A POET."


I loved it...and that's why, in this blog, - I describe myself as a writer!


No comments:

Post a Comment