the adventures of untitled watch

In may i send off  three of my  poems to a anthology poetry contest and received notification back they wanted to publish one   honestly i had not expected   them to publish  the ironic  England i love this Republic in a collection of jubilee poems  and they did not instead it was the  one hailed by  forum poster as  the waste land in ten lines   the  watch the road  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/watch-the-road/  poem with its images of decline decay and" no metaphor of ship wreck sea hating and depressing "   but oddly they called it "untitled watch"   and wanted me to buy  a lot of copies of the anthology  to get it published   so it was vanity publishing after all
looking back even on my poems of 2009-2011 in my own book  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=christopher+lantern+his+midnight+name+&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Achristopher+lantern+his+midnight+name+&ajr=0  i find that old stuff pretty old fashioned  and trite compared to my latest work but keeping the best stuff to myself  latest  about a fight beyond a knight and a future astronaut " lost spaceman, Dome and a million shades"  in a city that is alternating between   21st century and medieval


 

all cities turn to dust

british comics a cultual history by james chapman this claims to be a first of its kind but is yet another adult orientated nostalgia book dealing with comics from the victorian to the present yet again sections on dan dare pilot of the future and 2000AD and viz less on the funnies beano and danny just passed over and long section on little read brief issues of alternative comics and graphic novels one for the collector

 It Just Slipped Out: A Bulging Encyclopaedia of Double Entendres by Russell Ash laugh out hsitory of this englaih language comedy institution what is a doulbe entendre well a girl wals in a bar and asks for a double entendre so the bar man gives her one side splitting a to z od the perisl of asking aold hard of hearing man if he had "seen any picknickers about " or the reply to get if you ask a cockney in a rowing boat with two woman passengers if you ask to "borrow one of his oars" "taking down particulars" and "inspecting testimonials" a laugh out loud book


 when a bilion chinese jump how china will save mankind or destroy it by jonathan watts the asian enviromental correspondent for the Guardian tours china and finds it smoggy, eco extinct and building great cities on refuse and resources


 dubai the story of the worlds fastest city by jim kane yet another journalists book this time on the mirror city building skyscrapers in the sand powered by its migrant workers who live in a shanty called the city of gold dubai like binhai and beihan a new 21stC city from nowhere but like all cities in the world abandoned by the end of this 21st century city as wealth of the elite and model town dream do we need them?


 nearly did not make it to monday as narrowly missed by a speeding car going through a red light when i was crossing the road


 writing poetry and emailed simon armitage expect as much a reply from him as got from brian cox all i asked SA was was had he ever considered doing another medieval yorkshire accent poem this time translating the kalevala