John Baker’s Blog

Rudyard Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. I have many problems with the recipients of this prize and not least with Kipling. This man who insisted that his fragile young son serve in World War I; and who became known as the poet of Empire, was not best fitted to become [...]

Poet Robert Peake muses on breaking through the barriers that keep a poem less than 40 lines in length:
The stand-up comedian Billy Connolly is a master at delivering humor through seemingly endless digressions. When he finally comes back to the main topic, long since forgotten in the audience’s mind, he earns not only laughs but [...]

Jim Murdoch has some ideas about what it might be. Following a trail through Japanese and Scottish Haiku, he arrives at . . .
Well, you’ll have to go to his site to find out.
In the meantime:
If you’d asked me before I started working on this article what the world’s shortest poem was I would have [...]

Chris Routledge in Guardian Unlimited diagnoses how a really classy writer, like Dashiell Hammett, can make a diversion from their plot lead right to the story’s heart.
The story of Flitcraft is a simple one. A successful real-estate agent, with a happy family life and money in the bank, Flitcraft steps out of the office for [...]