Attitudes to Sussex

An 80-page volume, 18 x 11cm, printed on high quality card and paper, thread-

bound, illustrated with drawings by Karen Grace; designed, produced (apart from

printing and binding) and published by the author. The book is a second, revised

edition, a third and further revised edition of which is planned for publication later in 2026.

The book is a collection of poems observing and describing a variety of specific

locations, landscapes, architecture, events, institutions and people of Sussex, by a

writer with a lifelong background there.

The forms range from classical scan and rhyme to free verse, and the tone varies

from exuberant or comical to sober or tentative. The “attitudes” of the title are meant to mean the conveyance of thoughts and sentiments of the poet, and the implicit poses, conscious or unconscious, thereby struck. Composed in generally lucid, transparent language, the tone is nevertheless often wistful and allusive. 

However, the overall approach to the subject is balanced between affectionate and

unsentimental – intimate yet circumspect.

Items in the book have been anthologised, inter alia, in David Arscott’s Sussex

Bedside Book and newsletters of the Ramblers Association. In 2007 the poet was

filmed on the South Downs reading from the book, for a feature on him in ITV’s

South-East Regional News.