Poets and Poems: Ben Okri and "A Fire in My Head"

Standing in Hatchard’s Bookstore on Piccadilly Street in London, I’m looking through the shelves of poetry. Hatchards’s is the oldest, continuously operating bookstore in London, having opened in 1797. It’s next door to Fortnum & Mason, and across the street from the Royal Academy of Arts. The Ritz Hotel is one block west, while Piccadilly Circus is two long blocks to the east.  

Hatchard’s poetry section is not huge, but it’s sizeable, larger than what you find in most American bookstores. A small table display of books occupies the space in front of the shelves. Perhaps it’s the striking black, red, and white color design, but one volume draws my eye – A 
Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn by Ben Okri. The cover contains a sentence: “It was like a burnt matchbox in the sky.”

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Witches in the Woods – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Memory eternal for Marcus Aurelius Spartanicus, the priest’s dog – Terry Mattingly at Get Religion. 

 

Autumn Winds Have Come Again – poem by Roy Peterson at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Falling days – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher. 

 

Things Worth Remembering: When the World Went Mad – Douglas Murray at The Free Press on poet Edward Thomas and World War I.