After a reading in a Derbyshire school, the fifteens and the sixteen-year-olds are clustering round me (no fool like an old fool), the clevers, the athletics, the shys, the bolds, for me to sign their poem-photostats; I write 'Best wishes to Clare; John; Clive; Maureen.' These are their souvenirs - Bard Rock, Hippocrene beer mats - xeroxed to help them sort out what I mean, like worksheets. I'm the only worksheet on the scene!

LRB 20 November 1980 | PDF Download