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Shod
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March 13, 2015
I only needed one book to discuss at the library Book Café but reserved several to be on the safe side. The theme was 'Prizewinners' and Shod won the East Midlands Book Award a few years back. I'd got one book under my belt so when a few pages of this seemed impenetrable, I thought I'd give it a miss. I'm glad I went back, it is a remarkable work. Sidney realises one day that a newspaper photo of a homeless man shows him wearing the same shoes as Sidney himself is sporting. (Apparently this really happened to a friend of Mark Goodwin's and hence the poem) What happens then is that Sidney goes on some kind of shoe-related pilgrimage through England attracting followers and consternation. Goodwin does wonderful things with words in this very modern series of poems which echo much earlier well-known works of English poetry... and the Life of Brian too. I especially liked the description of an out of town supermarket as being like a fat tick on the body of a once sleek and now skinny fox.
Displaying 1 of 1 review