Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology Book

Trying to get men to talk about feelings is like an old cliche about plasma and a rock.

You'll never crack it, but it's fun trying.

Poems from the ancient past right up to modern times, all about men and their total inability to understand what the hell is going on around them without causing wars, injuring women or losing their souls to dark forces beyond their control.

Robert Bly is leader of the American Men's Movement, a kind of friendly response to feminism which encourages them to get in touch with their "inner woman", yet retain a core of masculinity which provides the basis for nurture and growth.

His representative on this bit of the earth (UK) up until his passing last November was Jackie Leven, a big old Scotsman with an equally big heart, who came through a two year struggle with heroin to found the Core Trust, an addiction charity once supported by the late Princess Diana.

Leven's work quotes many of the poems from this anthology, and provides a tonic for those in need of a bit of comfort in trying times.

Sounds heavy, but there's a lot of funny stuff in there as well. One to dip into now and again, rather than live in all the time, as they say.