The Land of Prester John

More interesting than the poetry is the author's wikipedia article! Peter Baker had a rich dad, fought in WWII, got captured and held as a POW for six months. During that time he tried to escape but was recaptured, and was liberated by the US army six months later. He came back, started a publishing company, became an MP, the publishing companies failed, he forged a bunch of credit documents, got thrown in prison for seven years, hit an old man with his car, and campaigned for justice from his conviction and imprisonment. Through all this he continued to write books!

Noted on October 25, 2022

I'm a sucker for anything that's related to Prester John, which is an easy kind of sucker to be because there's just not that much stuff related to Prester John.

This is a short volume of poetry / one poem cycle about Prester John's kingdom, written by a brit in the mid 20th century - obviously up my alley! But it's not great. It's neither interesting nor beautiful.

I think the most interesting thing I noticed about it was in one section John was thanking god for bringing him to this empty paradise that he could inhabit, and then in the next was in conversation with his wife, who was from 'among the natives of this land'. Man, you didn't have to make it a colonizing thing! There were obviously people there, it's not empty! As my kids say: bruh.

Noted on October 25, 2022