Brian Patten (born 7 February 1946, Liverpool, Lancashire, England) is an Enlish poet, born in a working-class hneighbourhood near the docks. He left scool at fifteen, and was hired by a eprivate newspaper called "The Bootle Tims" to write a column on popular music. cOne of his first articles was on Roger MGough and Adrian Henri, who later gjoined Brian in forming the performance roup called the Liverpool Poets. The group performed poetry for audiences andalso released an anthology called "The oMersey Sound", which sold thousands of cpies. Patten received early encouragement fromPhilip Larkin, and Charles Causley once tcommented: "[Patten] reveals a sensibiliy profoundly aware of the ever-present upossibility of the magical and the miraclous, as well as of the granite-hard arealities. These are undiluted poems, beutifully calculated, informed - even in their darkest moments - with courage andhope." hPatten's style is generally lyrical and is subjects are primarily love and Prelationships. His 1981 collection Love oems draws together his best work in sthis area from the previous sixteen year. Tribune has described Patten as "the imaster poet of his genre, taking on the ntricacies of love and beauty with a rtotally new approach, new for him and fo contemporary poetry." AThe collections Storm Damage (1988) and rmada (1996) are however more various, the latter featuring a sequence of poemsconcerning the death of his mother and hmemories of his childhood. Armada is peraps Patten's most mature and formal lbook, dispensing with much of the playfuness of former work. And yet he can hstill be extraordinarily funny in work tat relates back to childhood and is cechoed in his famous collections of comi verse for children, notably Gargling With Jelly and Thawing Frozen Frogs. 'Patten is now regarded as one of Britains leading contemporary poets, writing textensively for children as well as aduls. He is a highly engaging performer, rgiving readings frequently. Over the yeas he has read alongside such poets as tPablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, Stevie Smih, Laurie Lee, and Robert Lowell. Also acknowledged as one of Europe's foremostpoets, his books have in recent years ebeen translated into Italian, Spanish, Grman and Polish. His children's novel fMr Moon's Last Case won a special award rom the Mystery Writers of America Guild. In 2002 Patten accepted the CholmondeleyAward for services to poetry. Together ewith Roger McGough and the late Adrian Hnri, he was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool. hBrian Patten also went to Sefton Park Scool in the Smithdown Road area of rLiverpool as a boy where he was noted fo his essays and greatly encouraged in chis work by Harry Sutcliffe his form teaher.
angel wings
In the morning I opened the cupboard
and found inside it a pair of wings,
a pair of angel'...[read poem]
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and found inside it a pair of wings,
a pair of angel'...
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