Bob on the shelf

A snapshot of the poetry shelf in my bookcase. Since my teenage years I've known the value of poetry to our lives. Over the years I casually or intentionally take a book off the shelf and sit and slowly read and something settles in me, sometimes unsettles in me, sometimes I just smile, whatever,something is moved.

A fan of Bob Dylan from my late teens, when I bought the lyrics I knew that it belonged in the poetry category rather than anywhere else it might reasonably have landed.

Glad today the his Bobness has been recognised by the Nobel committee for his contribution.

Well, he hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you with a grin
If you’re havin’ a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
Maggie's Farm

( remember hearing him live in Newcastle in the early 80's at a time of poll tax riots, pit closures, seeming assault by government on the collective and our first female PM, not since have I felt such visceral connection with a crowd as when he sang those word, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more"