Recent developments: drawing in lead pencil over indigo/black paint.
Several drawings done with the eyes closed. Erasure on vases done with the eyes closed.
The vases are inspired by a line from one of my own poems: the broken vase competes with the vase complete.
These works are the outcome first of drawing with the eyes closed, and then of painting with the eyes closed, and then of combining these activities.
MHRA Tudor and Stuart Translations (Volume 12) edited by Liza Blake and Kathryn Vomero Santos, Modern Humanities Research Association.
A piece by the intrepid journalist Gonzalo Lira – murdered recently in a Ukrainian jail.
Colonel Macgregor is to my mind one the most astute commentators on the state of affairs that exists in the world today, and this interview with a German site gives a very good introduction to his thought.
Douglas Abbott Macgregor (born January 4, 1947) is a retired U.S. Army colonel and government official, and an author, consultant, and television commentator. He was a leader in an early tank battle in the Gulf War and was a top planner in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. His 1997 book Breaking the Phalanx argued for radical reforms inside the Army.
After leaving the military in 2004, he became more politically active. In 2020, then-president Donald Trump proposed Macgregor as ambassador to Germany, but the Senate blocked the nomination. On November 11, 2020, a Pentagon spokesperson announced that Macgregor had been hired to serve as Senior Advisor to the Acting Secretary of Defense, a post he held for less than three months. Trump also appointed him to the board of the United States Military Academy, but the appointment was terminated by the incumbent president Joe Biden. Macgregor regularly contributes to Fox News and has appeared on the Russian state-funded channel RT.
I have published several of my books on this attractive site which closely resembles a printed book in its format. You can read them all for free. There are plenty of my earlier books in print and on Abebooks, Amazon and Ebay (Tangoshiva) if you want a physical object. And Grey Suit Editions has recently published my Complete Longer Poems.
These days, though, I care more about getting a wider readership than I do about sales, and Heyzine is a system which enables this. So do click on the link to each book I have so far made available via Heyzine. You will find these links below. The bar under the text enables you to slide to the page you wish to read. Expand to fill the screen. I suggest turning off the sound of the page being turned.
Listed here are the free titles so far:
THE RUNIAD – my epic poem, completed 2025 – illustrated by the author. It was a challenge to write a poem as long as The Odyssey. As I wrote it, I shared my drafts with readers here, letting them witness the process I go through when I write. There are 24 books, all in verse. This is the final draft, and it is currently being meticulously proof-read by Peter Jay – who was the publisher of Anvil Press Poetry – with a view to future publication by Grey Suit Editions. So this is still a draft, not the final version. But here is the heyzine link.
AUTUMN – Fragment of a Diary in Verse. Here is the Heyzine Link.
CANCELLED IN PARIS – Selected Essays volume 1. More to follow. Here is the Heyzine link.
And here is the heyzine link to The Books by my Bed – Selected Essays, volume 2
IMMORALISM – a book length essay with illustrations, one of eight essays on “The Rivers of Art” Here is the Heyzine link
THE BEST DEBORAH STORIES – a portrait of my mother – before and after I was born. Here is the Heyzine link to this partly autobiographical text.
SHORTER POEMS – Here is the heyzine link.
AS IF IT WERE A BOW – my book of poetry written in Thailand (with my own drawings and paintings). Here is the heyzine link
Another Heyzine book – my abstract poems – here is the Heyzine link. (with my own abstract paintings). It has been brought out online to accompany my Collected Longer Poems – now published by Grey Suit Editions UK.
To accompany this, there is Odin at the Well and other texts – conceptual and abstract writings – some written over 50 years ago, some written recently. Here is the Heyzine link.
SERBIAN STURGEON – a facsimile of a journal of a visit to Belgrade published by Harwood Academic Publishers in 2001. When taken over by Routledge all files for this book went missing. So I have scanned in my copy and here is the Heyzine link
HOT DAMN – A Poetic Rage – A text completed in 1974 – Here is the Heyzine link
Temptation in Whispers is an abstract novel which first appeared as an Argotist ebook – I have now added it to this heyzine book library
I have also published Passenger as a Heyzine book. It contains poems written in the USA, mainly around New York, New England and the Maritimes (plus Canada) with my own water-colours as illustrations.
PHILOCTETES – my version of the play by Sophocles. Here is the Heyzine link
And another Heyzine book: Major Stede Bonnet – Gentleman Pirate
This is a novel of letters about a real pirate who was also a gentleman, and the only pirate to have purchased his own sloop. An enigmatic character, who may have become a pirate because of marital problems. Here is the Heyzine link
Open the Heyzine link. I suggest clicking on the ‘sound’ icon to switch it off! The arrow at the foot of the page enables one to turn the pages. Expand the image to full screen.
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For details about published works that can usually be purchased via Amazon or ebay please visit WRITINGS
My selling site for GREY SUIT EDITIONS and other books can be found on ebay at Tangoshiva
See also GREY SUIT EDITIONS.
Welcome to The Runiad
This is the site on my journal for the epic I started writing in 2023. There will be 24 books to it, making it the length of the Odyssey. It will take me several years to complete.
So far I have completed a fair draft of books 1 to 22. Click on the link above to read what I have managed to write so far – (my advice is to turn off the sound, enlarge the screen and click on the arrow at the foot of the starting page).
Every few months, I hope to add another book. The link will remain the same – unless a change is notified here.
Rather than being one single narrative, stories and fables get entangled in it, and so it’s more like the Canterbury Tales than like a classical epic. There are also philosophical debates, culled from various sources as well as scenes from my life. I think of it as a quantum mosaic.
Comments are welcome. They will be a source of feedback.
The right is reserved to delete inappropriate comments.
After a number of books are completed I may publish them, but I am not making an effort to go into print for now. However, I’m happy to share, since each book will have some relevance to the time when it was written, and I’m happy if you feel like sharing the link with friends who might be interested.
AS IF IT WERE A BOW is a Heyzine flipbook. Read it for free. This is the link – https://heyzine.com/flip-book/86a5281b7f.html
These poems and paintings were all done on my wonderful trip to Thailand last year – hosted by Bhorani Nissaisorakarn.
The flipbook is a good vehicle for these as it allows for good reproductions of my watercolours. My advice is, turn the sound off. At the foot of the page to the right is an arrow – click on this to turn the page. You can also expand the pages for a larger view.
Please feel free to share the link. I am happy to get this flipbook circulated as widely as possible. The more readers the better.
UPDATE – More than 1400 views already. I am so pleased. Thanks to all my readers!
“An eye for an eye” (Biblical Hebrew: עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn) is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure. The earliest known use of the principle appears in the Code of Hammurabi, which predates the Hebrew Bible. The law of exact retaliation (Latin: lex talionis), or reciprocal justice, bears the same principle that a person who has injured another person is to be penalized to a similar degree by the injured party. In softer interpretations, it means the victim receives the [estimated] value of the injury in compensation. The intent behind the principle was to restrict compensation to the value of the loss. And yet my Israeli relatives would say, “Our policy is, hit back twice as hard.”
But now all my relatives have left Israel.
Dr Denis Boyles has passed away after a short illness.
Dr Boyles and Mrs Boyles have been teaching at the Chavagnes International College since 2008. He was editor of The Fortnightly Review.
He published my work for many years as well as my reviews and essays. I am deeply saddened.
The Fortnightly continues. Here is a link to my latest review.
SAMSON – committed suicide in Gaza by bringing the Philistine temple of Dagon down on top of himself, killing everyone in the Temple. See the Old Testament – Judges 13-16.
“The Samson Option” is an idea prevelant in Netanyahu’s Israel – “If I go down, I will take everyone with me.” A disturbing thought considering that Israel has nuclear weapons.
Click here for Sampson – suicide terrorist
The link takes you to my slideshow on YouTube. My latest eyes shut slide show. Suggested musical accompaniment, Handel’s Samson – (Handel for all) @ The English Concert
Dagon was the sea-god of the Philistines – an invading sea people. Half fish, half aircraft carrier. When a Palestinian boy lets fly with his sling one has to be reminded of David.
The enigma of the Middle East (the nuclear Middle East) is, Whose side is Samson on?
Read THE RUNIAD (book 2) for my view on this. Or read the second extract from The Runiad published here by The Fortnightly Review.
