Just thought I’d totter from my (metaphorical) sickbed to pose the following question (probably a rhetorical one) – who is the author of the following poem? The mystery bard was quite a well-known figure in his or her own day, and, although not best-known as a poet, it was a well-known fact that they wrote the stuff. The highlight of their career as a poet was to have been having John Betjeman reading one of their poems aloud on the telly, but that was cancelled due to an act of disobedience. It’s not apparent at first sight, but there is a connection with the previous two poems. It appears to be about going to the seaside in Sussex, which might offer another clue.
City Pilgrim
You rattle down the track
seabound
like a ship down the slipway
toward the Sound and waiting freedom
to be known
in its circle of the world:
then leaving train at cluttered station
like ship leaves cluttered land
you make a way to your destination
of that verging golden strand
to stand on the edge of freshness
by the curling rolling waves
with arms outstretched to feel the space
that a city pilgrim craves.
(It shows how addle-pated I am at the moment that I was just about to tag this post with the name of the poet …)
The Crimson Rambler 
I can’t tell you how much it pains me to admit defeat! My only groping in the dark thoughts would be Ken Tynan or Joe Orton?
I’m not sure that many poetry-lovers would know this one, actually – it’s by a cricketer called John Snow, who played for England and published two volumes of poetry in the seventies. More detail to follow soon, I hope.
I’m surprised you’ve got the time to give this any thought at the moment, incidentally, with the amount you’re writing. Crikey. I’m in awe.
I didn’t stand a chance! I feel much better now. Although if Ken or Joe had done it there was have been considerably more swears.
Re the blogs, the more I write, the more hits I get. The higher the stats, the more chance I have of turning it into a book, radio feature, telly etc. Seriously.
Well, yes – go for it, as they say. I’m sure there is a huge market out there for the kind of stuff you write – and most of what is published in this line is nowhere as good as yours.
I thought you might be interested in this, by the way, from this evening’s Standard
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23797782-is-baby-archie-the-new-jamie-oliver.do
A “store-cupboard” cook moving from blog to book (probably via this article).
Thanks for that article – it shows it can be done – and thanks you for your kind comments which I particularly appreciate when your own writing is so good.
I have had a sniff from a publisher in London, (the concept went to the Frankfurt Book Fair) but everything in publishing is so slow at the moment, I’m not holding my breath. I am waiting to hear from Harborough FM though about doing a spot (small acorns blah blah blah) and I have a few other things in the pipeline. They will be heralded mightily on the blog as and when they happen, as you can imagine.
Peter at Unmitigated England said early on that the blogging community can be a big support and inspiration and it really is true.