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This booklet chronicles some 80 years of poems written by my mother, June, and myself reflecting many of the joys and vicissitudes of our own experiences and the world’s upheavals in that time.
June’s first poems were written at the tender age of 14 and, apart from the first two and the last two, were all written during the Second World War which was declared when she was only 15 and clearly very impressionable.
I did write some poetry at School but most are long-lost! The majority of my poems were written in the 1980s and ‘90s with a few earlier and some in recent years but, unlike my very organised mother, I failed to record the dates of writing, so they are random and not chronological!
June was inspired partly by her friend- ship with Thomas Moult, a prolific writer and later elected President of the Poetry Society in the 1950s and early ‘60s. From his letters he clearly adored and admired her.We have a book she kept of a host of poems he hand-wrote and sent her, with lovely little original pencil sketches of countryside scenes, and all his letters to her.
I do hope you enjoy this selection. All but one of June’s poems were written between the ages of 14 and 21 and, whilst I cannot claim such youthful skill nor such a fearful backcloth I hope that it is clear that love and concern for the world around us were the sincere twin inspirations for us both.
Simon Whalley
The Enchantment
& Hope of
Poetry
A Birtley House Publication - all images courtesy of unsplash.com