Today I'm highlighting the poetry of Peter Dixon. Peter Dixon was not just a poet. He was a performer, educationalist and artist.   He grew up in London during WW2, and as a boy his schooling was far from successful. He struggled with spelling and the understanding of word, form and grammar, so he tended to write secretly at home, drawing and writing of things largely ignored by schools.   Despite this difficult phase of his life, Peter eventually became a school teacher and then a senior lecturer in education. It often mystified him as to how all of this came to pass. As a teacher, he strived to be unbiased and did not neglect the children who experienced learning challenges.   Peter Dixon became a full time children’s writer and educational consultant. His first book was published in 1978. Whilst living in Winchester, Hampshire, with his family, he   contributed to over 100 poetry anthologies and had seven collections of his own work published including Grow Your O...

  Tea has assumed a heightened presence in my life recently. Writer and poet, Robyn Hood Black wrote a wonderful piece on tea drinking for Poetry Friday last week. It stirred up some strong memories of my family's history as avowed tea drinkers. It became the go to whether it was celebration or crises. Tea was associated with calm and considered resolution.  Yesterday, reading om-line, I became aware of an American  scientist, Michelle Franci, who has caused an international rift with Great Britain by suggesting adding a pinch of salt to a cup of tea to improve the flavour. The US  Embassy in London attempted to assuage  hurt feelings by announcing that adding salt was not official US policy- and never will be. They then landed themsleves in hot water by stating the US Embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way- by microwaving it! You can read the full story here . All this tea talk prompted me to go in search of a poem I came across quite some years ...