IT IS RARELY THAT A BOOK OF POETRY, let alone a review of a book of poetry, makes the news, but recently a review by Graeme Richardson in the Sunday Times of a book by Len Pennie did so.
Mr Richardson did not much care for the book, indeed he found it execrable. He said that Pennie (far right) was the worst poet to have come out of Scotland since William McGonagall (right). A Scottish newspaper, the National, reminded readers that the latter was the author of “infamous work”, The Tay Bridge Disaster.
This work is not infamous, it is famous. Nothing about McGonagall, l, including his work, was infamous, and once one has read his biography, one feels nothing but sympathy, admiration and sorrow for the man. His work…