Category Archives: sparrow mumbling

Two Poems for Tom Raworth and an Instant Elegy

Posted on February 28, 2017 by W N Herbert

I’m indebted to Peter Manson who, on my posting a short elegy on Tumblr for Tom Raworth, suggested I reproduce here two poems he, Peter, and his co-editor Robin Purves, first published in Object Permanence, no. 3 (Sept 94). These … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling, xenochronicity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Portrait of an Informationist, (or, The Kind of Found Poetry I Want)

Posted on May 21, 2016 by W N Herbert

(About 11 months ago, I did one of those Facebook ‘challenge’ chains – post a poem each day for five days; challenge five others to do the same – which are just an excuse to share new work. Most of … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whose English Is It Anyway?

Posted on February 14, 2016 by W N Herbert

(This is a very overdue reposting of a poem commissioned for The Verb as part of the BBC’s 2014 Freethinking Festival. The delay, apart from the usual reluctance to appear to be self-publishing anything beyond the lightest or most spontaneous … Continue reading →

Posted in dundee makar, sparrow mumbling, xenochronicity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Three Mice: A Halloween Tale

Posted on October 31, 2014 by W N Herbert

The first mouse built its house out of cheese that he stole brick by cellophane-wrapped brick from an hotel breakfast buffet, and cemented together with butter, but the cat – that black-hearted crapper in backyards, and stalker of the mildewed … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sparrow-mumbling in China

Posted on May 2, 2013 by W N Herbert

As many of you will already know, April is now over, and with it, the solemn blend of duty and monosyllables that is NaPoWriMo. Why, then, am I still labouring toward a closure few will care enough about to read? … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sparrow-mumbling in April: Week 1

Posted on April 8, 2013 by W N Herbert

Without a second thought and with very little evidence of a first one either, when Carrie Etter asked me to take part in NaPoWriMo, I agreed. I think I liked the sound of it, the sort of SovSound feel. I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mumbling in March

Posted on March 2, 2013 by W N Herbert

(It’s been a while since I heard the sparrows mumble, and, truth to tell, in all this excitement, I quite forgot to gather the crumbs. For those who are also suffering from the old omnesia, this is an occasional column … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jelly Bo Lee Jubilee

Posted on May 12, 2012 by W N Herbert

This selection of sparrow-mumblings is posted to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Edward Lear’s birth, and indeed commences with a small hommage/omelette/oubliette. This has been a busy couple of months of ‘proper’ composition, the results of which shall soon … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Botch

Posted on March 15, 2012 by W N Herbert

A distinctly avian theme keeps recurring throughout these pieces of cartoon verse scattered through F-book and Twitter (yes, I know) in the first months of this year. Entirely by accident, and not through some attempt to speak zaum, as Khlebnikov … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Forky Murder Sno-Cat

Posted on December 25, 2011 by W N Herbert

(For this festive offering, we give you the full lyric sheet for ‘Forky the Snow-Mule’, plus the first sighting of the infamous Murder Bear. WARNING: do not approach or attempt to apprehend this poem, the text is armed and highly … Continue reading →

Posted in sparrow mumbling | Tagged , , | Leave a comment