Peter Howard
Peter Howard is a poet currently residing in Cambridge, UK. He was educated at Hertford College, Oxford and works in the telecommunications systems design field. His poems have been published in various magazines and web sites, and read on television as well. He has also written a wonderful booklet of poems called The Low Probability of Racoons.
This poet has been active on the internet through such projects as writing an internet column for Poetry Review, serving as the Official Web Watcher for the Poetry Society, and acting as a section leader in CompuServe's Poetry Forum. He also maintains a delightful web site with the starting points for several hypertext poems, a great set of poetry links, a program for generating automatic verse, and a set of poems for children.
The response Mr. Howard looks for from his readers is, "Yes, that's how it is!" He says, "If I can achieve that, then I think I've done my job." A Sample of his work follows. You can learn more about Peter Howard and read more of his poetry by following the link to his web site at the end of this document.
Drawing Up The Borders
Yes, it can be a tedious job at times:
frustrating and repetitive, especially
all the erasing and redrawing
when some querulous country muscles its way in.
But I like to take an interest
in the politics of each line I draw,
the arguments, or secret deals, or plain brute force
that lie behind each change of colour on the map.
And I have to say this: I'll never be out of work.
When I've finished the country borders,
there are always plenty of counties,
cantons and Parish Councils queuing up,
neighbours wanting a line to mark
the place where the garden fence should go,
or clerks needing an urgent definition
of the precise division of office desk space.
I like to catch them young. If I can sell
a nice white line down the middle of the playroom floor
it may not pay much, but I'll know
I've made two customers for life.
Copyright © 1997 Peter Howard
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