SMALL-SCREEN SHUKER SIGHTINGS - A CLICKABLE COLLECTION OF MY TV APPEARANCES

 

Screenshot from one of my appearances on GMTV during the early 1990s (© Dr Karl Shuker/GMTV – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

I tend to be elusive, and reclusive, at the best of times (almost as much, in fact, as the cryptids that I investigate!). So it should come as no surprise to learn that anyone who knows me well will tell you that appearing on television is something that I loathe doing – as in loathe with an absolute, abiding passion. And here's why.

Firstly, as is also true with a surprising number of actors (surprising in the sense that because they do it as a profession, one might therefore expect them to be long since accustomed to this), I simply don't like seeing, or hearing, myself on the small screen – never have done, never will.

Secondly, I abhor the devious, dubious practices that TV interviewees are sometimes subjected to – such as (very) selective editing of recorded interviews prior to their actual screening, including slyly presenting the interviewee's words out of context; and unexpectedly assailing the interviewee in live programmes with deliberately provocative questions that are unrelated to the subject officially under discussion and are specifically designed to confuse and/or ridicule the interviewee.

Thirdly, there is the not insignificant matter of some TV companies doing their utmost to avoid offering the interviewee a fee for their appearance, for travel expenses, or for their time spent providing TV show researchers with masses of free information – information, moreover, that is then frequently used in those TV shows but without giving their unpaid source any onscreen credit or recognition either. And so on…

 

Screenshot from one of my favourite TV appearances, being interviewed by Richard & Judy on This Morning in 1995 (© Dr Karl Shuker/This Morning – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Consequently, once I had achieved a measure of ongoing success with my writing career, i.e. by the late 1990s, I made a conscious decision to bow out of TV appearances whenever possible and allow my books and articles do my talking for me instead – a decision that I've adhered to ever since (although I do not totally rule out future TV appearances if the subject to be discussed is sufficiently enticing and the TV company involved is one that I feel happy to work with).

Prior to my retirement from the small-screen showbiz world, however, I had taken part in quite a variety of high-profile TV shows, and had obtained recordings of a fair few of them, especially those that I'd actually enjoyed participating in, and which had not subjected me to any of the unpleasant practices outlined above. Moreover, because those latter interviews also contained information that I considered may be of interest to other cryptozoological enthusiasts, during the past few years I've uploaded them onto YouTube in order to make them readily available to viewers, and also, hopefully, to preserve them long after I'm no longer here to do so personally.

There may be other such recordings lurking in my archives that I've overlooked (and there are also currently on YT some TV programmes or videos uploaded by other YT users that feature me). In addition, I know that I have a number of my many radio interviews preserved on audio cassette tapes that I have yet to convert into MP3 files and upload onto YT. Meanwhile, however, in order to enable easy access to what is already there, it has occurred to me that a directly clickable list of those recordings would be highly beneficial to potential viewers.

[NB – The following clickable list of interviews is not arranged in strict chronological order because I don't have precise recording dates for some of them, so  I cannot be absolutely certain 30-odd years down the line which was produced first in certain cases, but they were all recorded during the 1990s unless stated otherwise. One clue to their correct chronological order, however, may be derived from taking note of how much, or how little, hair I still possess in each of them!] 

And so, as they used to say in the classic UK children's TV show Blue Peter, here's one I made earlier (click the red description below for each video in order to go directly to that video on YT):

 

Being interviewed by Anthea Turner on GMTV during the early 1990s (© Dr Karl Shuker/GMTV – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

Interview in early 1990s with Anthea Turner on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.

Interview in early 1990s with Michael Wilson on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.

Interview in early 1990s with Lorraine Kelly on UK breakfast TV show GMTV re mystery cats.

Interview in early 1990s with Mike Morris on Live Wire, screened by former UK Cable TV channel Wire TV, re mystery cats.

 

Screenshot from my interview with Mike Morris on Live Wire during the early 1990s (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Interview in 1993 with Andy Crane on former Saturday morning ITV show What's Up Doc re new and rediscovered animals as featured in my book The Lost Ark (1993).

Part 1 of an extensive three-part interview in 1993 with John Hammond on former UK Cable TV channel Wire TV re new and rediscovered animals, plus cryptozoology in general.

Part 2 of an extensive three-part interview in 1993 with John Hammond on former UK Cable TV channel Wire TV re new and rediscovered animals, plus cryptozoology in general.

Part 3 of an extensive three-part interview in 1993 with John Hammond on former UK Cable TV channel Wire TV re new and rediscovered animals, plus cryptozoology in general.

 

Screenshot of Richard Uridge wearing my self-customised biker's jacket in a Midlands Today news report, autumn 1993 (© Dr Karl Shuker/Midlands Today – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Something different: Two local TV news reports from autumn 1993 re a then-current Black Leather Jacket museum exhibition featuring one of my own self-customised biker jackets (seen being worn by motorbike-riding Midlands Today presenter Richard Uridge in the second news report).

Interview re British mystery cats in an episode of the 1994 TV documentary series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe, narrated by Carol Vorderman.

[and here, uploaded by someone else, is the entire episode]

Part 1 of the three-part cryptozoology-themed mid-1990s interview with myself and veteran Nessie seeker Steve Feltham by husband-and-wife TV presenters Richard Madeley & Judy Finnegan on UK breakfast TV show This Morning.

Part 2 of the three-part cryptozoology-themed mid-1990s interview with myself and veteran Nessie seeker Steve Feltham by husband-and-wife breakfast TV presenters Richard Madeley & Judy Finnegan on UK breakfast TV show This Morning.

Part 3 of the three-part cryptozoology-themed mid-1990s interview with myself and veteran Nessie seeker Steve Feltham by husband-and-wife breakfast TV presenters Richard Madeley & Judy Finnegan on UK breakfast TV show This Morning.

 

Screenshot of my live appearance on Sky News, mid-1990s (© Dr Karl Shuker/Sky News – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Live interview in mid-1990s on Sky News re the Bodmin Beast.

Interview re Morgawr the Cornish sea monster in Season 3, Episode 2 of the UK ITV documentary series Strange But True? presented by Michael Aspel; this episode was first screened on 6 September 1996.

Part 1 of my three-part mid-/late 1990s interview for UK monthly mysteries magazine Fortean Times on the subject of cryptozoology.

Part 2 of my three-part mid-/late 1990s interview for UK monthly mysteries magazine Fortean Times on the subject of cryptozoology.

Part 3 of my three-part mid-/late 1990s interview for UK monthly mysteries magazine Fortean Times on the subject of cryptozoology.

 

Screenshot from my three-part Fortean Times interview (© Dr Karl Shuker/Fortean Times – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only

Interview in late 1990s re British mystery cats, on former UK TV news programme 3D, presented by Julia Somerville.

 

Speaking at the CFZ's 2007 Weird Weekend conference (© Mark North)

Speaking at the official launch of my first CFZ Press-published book, Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), during the CFZ's 2007 Weird Weekend conference.

Speaking at the official launch of my second CFZ Press-published book, Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), during the CFZ's 2008 Weird Weekend conference.

 

Snapped with CFZ friend Nichola Sullings at the CFZ's 2008 Weird Weekend conference (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Something different: my poem 'Airport' being read aloud by Silas Hawkins, from my first published poetry collection, Star Steeds and Other Dreams (2009).

Something different: my poem 'The Loch Ness Monster' being read aloud by Silas Hawkins, from my first published poetry collection, Star Steeds and Other Dreams (2009).

Speaking re giant spider reports documented in my book Mirabilis (2013), in an excerpt from a lengthy radio interview on Coast To Coast AM, first broadcast in 2013.

 

Lecturing at the very first Fortean Times UnConvention, in 1994; as far as I am aware, however, no video recording of my presentation exists – but I'd be happy to be informed otherwise, and even happier to be able to view any such recording! (© Lars Thomas)

 

Sadly, my TV debut (and still among my favourite small-screen appearances) is not included in the above list, because so far it does not appear to have been uploaded onto YT by anyone – fyi, it was in a 1987 TSW (Television South West) documentary entitled The Beast of Exmoor. However, I do own an official VHS video recording of the entire programme, kindly gifted to me by TSW, so it is not lost (which is very fortunate, because TSW closed down at the end of 1992).

Moreover, as I mentioned earlier here, I may have in my archives some additional TV recordings featuring me, plus cassette recordings of various radio interviews with me that I definitely have, all of which I'll upload onto YT at some stage. Once I do, I'll insert clickable links to them in this present listing. So be sure to check back here from time to time if you'd like to access them for future viewings (and listenings – hey, did I just invent a new word??).

Finally, I can't go without mentioning one of the most popular ploys that TV companies have tried when attempting to solicit my services for free – namely, emphasizing all the publicity that I'll derive from appearing on or assisting their show. Every time I've received that spiel, I've had to exert severe self-control in order to prevent myself from answering back with the withering reply that British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood allegedly gave when responding to a similar statement in a similar situation: "Darling, I don't NEED the publicity!" Wonderful!

 

Just in case you thought that I'd forgotten – here am I with Mom and Chris Tarrant after my appearance on a certain TV quiz show a long, long time ago… (© Dr Karl Shuker)

 

UPDATE: 30 April 2022 - I've also recorded a fair few radio interviews down through the decades, but here is the very latest one, recorded yesterday and uploaded today by Dark Waters onto YouTube. Namely, my appearance on the famous Dark Waters Radio show, in which he and I chat about all manner of mystery beasts, from bigfoot and dogman to water monsters, secret snakes, and much much more!

Dr Karl Shuker on the Dark Waters Radio show (© Dark Waters - reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

BONES OF THE THUNDER HORSE

A magnificent model by Jeff Johnson of Brontotherium (=Brontops, =Megacerops) (© Jeff Johnson)

One of the most spectacular beasts from Amerindian mythology must surely be a huge, terrifying creature known as the thunder horse. According to Sioux legends emanating from Nebraska and South Dakota, thunder is the sound produced by the impact of its hooves when it leaps down from the skies to the ground during violent storms, and while on Earth it also uses its hooves to slay bison. Needless to say, it would be tempting to postulate that this extraordinary story was inspired by eyewitness accounts of some mysterious living creature - accounts perhaps passed down verbally from one generation to another for many centuries and subjected to much elaboration and exaggeration, but nonetheless derived ultimately from original encounters with a modern-day animal. In fact, the true solution is very different.

The thunder horse legend actually arose from occasional discoveries by the Sioux Nation of huge fossilised bones - which usually came to light by being washed up out of the ground during heavy rainstorms. Unable to explain their origin, but aware of their appearances' coincidence with rain, the Sioux assumed that they were the earthbound remains of some immense, storm-engendered sky beast - and thus was the legend born.

The Sioux thunder horse, aka Brontotherium (© Jeff Johnson)

In reality, the bones were from an enormous rhinoceros-like ungulate, standing 8 ft tall at the shoulder and belonging to an extinct family of horse-related perissodactyls aptly called titanotheres. The type responsible for the thunder horse legend had existed roughly 35 million years ago, during the late Eocene epoch, and it had borne upon its nasal bones a massive V-shaped projection most closely resembling the horn-like structures (ossicones) of the giraffes. When this creature's remains were examined during the 1870s by the celebrated American palaeontologist Prof. Othniel Charles Marsh, its intimately-associated thunder horse myth inspired him to christen it Brontotherium - 'thunder beast'.

NB - In recent years, the genus Brontotherium (along with Brontops and several other brontothere genera of titanothere) has been synonymised with Megacerops by some researchers, but as far as its legendary past is concerned, this spectacular beast will always be the thunder horse – a monumental physical embodiment of the thunderstorm's awesome power and terror.

Brontotherium (© Jeff Johnson)

To read online a poem of mine, 'Behold The Thunder Horse', inspired by the Sioux Nation's thunder horse legend and contained in my self-penned poetry book Star Steeds and Other Dreams (2009), click here.

This ShukerNature post is excerpted and updated from my book In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), which is to be re-issued in the not-too-distant future due to popular demand, so be sure to keep a lookout for it!

Restoration of a pair of Brontotherium titanotheres (Dmitry Bogdanov/Wikipedia)

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SAINT EUSTACIUS

'White Hart' - Mike Hearld

Certain religious stories, such as St George and the Dragon, have generated very considerable interest down through the centuries and have become extremely well known, but there are others that have attracted much less notice, yet are no less memorable. The following story is one of these hitherto-neglected Christian legends, which has always stayed in my mind ever since I first read it many years ago, so I finally decided to retell it in verse.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF SAINT EUSTACIUS

Through the emerald forests
Of golden-hued Dawn,
Rode Eustacius, a soldier
Of Rome, one fine morn,
As his hounds bayed all round him
With dark, fearful eyes,
Like a torrent of shadows
‘Neath newly-born skies.

So the soldier rode onward
Through golden-leaved trees,
While the hounds’ dismal howling
Still hung on the breeze
Like a dream half-forgotten
‘Twixt Future and Past –
Yet still doomed by its maker
Forever to last.

Then ahead of Eustacius
A white stag appeared,
And the soldier’s steed trembled,
Then, shivering, reared.
Just as if the stag’s presence
Imbued it with awe,
As the hunter peered onwards
And then, the deer, saw.

All at once, the stag stiffened,
Then fled through the trees,
But Eustacius pursued it,
Through clearings and lees.
On he chased this white wonder,
Past mountains and vales,
And the morn became noontide
In forests and dales.

Later, Evening drew gently
The curtains of Night
Far across the blue heavens,
Now dappled with light
From the glistening stars set
In countless array,
Each a tiny eye peering
Through blankets of grey.

And as they witnessed softly
The hunt far below,
E’en the moon wept in sadness,
And shrouded its glow
To give cover of darkness
‘Midst shadowy glades
To the hunted stag, weary
As still the hounds bayed.

But the stag was now tiring,
Its head dangled low,
As its heart heaved and pounded,
Its eyes full of woe,
Till it sank down exhausted
On carpets of dew,
As the hounds’ ghastly howling
More terrible grew.

Then Eustacius perceived it,
Stretched outwards to die,
As its fragile heart throbbed ‘neath
The sorrowful sky.
And the stag watched the soldier
With eyes dark and mild,
For it made no swift movement,
Yet cried like a child.

Then a pale shaft of moonlight
Fell softly from Space,
And its shimmering beauty
Lit up the deer’s face.
And as all the world waited,
The stag raised its head.
Its mouth opened, and then, with
A human voice, said:

“Why dost thou still pursueth
Me long through the trees?
I am Christ,” as Eustacius
Dropped low to his knees.
For the stag was surrounded
By radiant light,
Like a star incandescent
That passed from all sight

To the heavens resplendent
In Glory Divine.
Then Eustacius looked up, and
Drew slowly the Sign
Of the Cross there before him –
A new saint was born,
In the reincarnation
Of God’s golden Dawn.

This poem is just one of more than a hundred that are contained within Star Steeds and Other Dreams - my first volume of poetry, published by the CFZ Press in 2009.

THE ROBIN AND THE CROSSBILL - TWO EASTER-THEMED BIRD LEGENDS IN VERSE

There are many traditional, quite often poignant religious folktales featuring animals, some of which are well known, others less so. In the following poem, which appears in my published poetry collection Star Steeds and Other Dreams (CFZ Press, 2009), I have combined two of these age-old stories, both of which are Easter-themed - the famous legend of how the robin gained its red breast, and the less familiar legend of how the crossbill acquired its twisted beak.

THE ROBIN AND THE CROSSBILL

A tall wooden Cross cast its pitiless shadow
Across a green hill ‘neath the grey, leaden sky.
For mankind had crucified Jesus, its Saviour,
And left Him there helpless to suffer and die.

But two tiny birds came to visit Lord Jesus,
Two small humble creatures with hearts full of love.
The little brown robin and bright crimson crossbill,
Each blessed by the Light of their Father Above.

When Jesus looked down and beheld the small robin,
He smiled at him softly, and down from His breast
His blood trickled slowly like deep scarlet teardrops,
And falling below stained the robin’s white chest.

The crossbill in vain used his bill to remove the
Cruel nails that impaled Jesus’ hands and His feet,
But prised with such force that his bill crossed and twisted
‘Ere, strength being spent, he conceded defeat.

And e’er since that day when they visited Jesus,
The bill of each crossbill is twisted and curled,
While Jesus’ red blood on each robin’s chest lingers,
Reminding us just how much God loves our world.

A MEMORIAL TO THE PASSENGER PIGEON

Martha Washington, the last passenger pigeon, photographed shortly before her death in 1914, which marked the extinction of what had once been the world's most abundant species of wild bird

When Martha Washington, a small grey dove-like bird, died in a cage at Cincinnati Zoo on 1 September 1914, her passing marked one of the most shameful episodes in the history of humankind – the extinction of the passenger pigeon Ectopistes migratorius, which, incredibly, had been just a century earlier the most abundant species of wild bird in the world, whose vast numbers as witnessed in enormous flocks migrating each year through the North American skies could be counted in the billions, until they were decimated by hunters. This poem, which appears in my poetry book Star Steeds and Other Dreams (CFZ Press, 2009), is a tribute to that lost bird, and a stark reminder of the inconceivable wickedness responsible for its extermination. The final verse’s last word, ‘fly’, deliberately breaks the tradition set throughout the poem of ‘sky’ being the last word in each verse, in order to underline a change of direction in the poem, from realism to mysticism.

A MEMORIAL TO THE PASSENGER PIGEON

Each year, across the New World sky,
Would flocks of birds in millions fly –
Unending flights eclipsing light
While travelling through the sky.

Known as passenger pigeons, they –
The birds that hid the sun’s bright ray
For days and nights while endless flights
Migrated through the sky.

But hunters saw this awesome sight
As food for sport in wild delight,
And shot to kill as ever still
More birds passed through the sky.

Huge raucous clouds of birds in flight,
All unsuspecting of their plight,
Were seen and shot, then left to rot,
As more soared through the sky.

The heavens filled with countless birds,
And through the lands their cries were heard,
As they flew past, upon their last
Migration through the sky.

The pigeons’ flocks were soon reduced
When men with savage guns were loosed –
Who aimed and fired, and ne’er grew tired
Of shooting at the sky.

Dead birds grew greater every day,
But mankind’s greed was swift to pay,
For soon, as feared, they disappeared –
No birds flew through the sky.

Then parties searched for any few
Survivors of those flocks that flew
Across the lands in mighty bands,
A-flying through the sky.

But none did any human find,
The victims of his brutal mind.
Extinct at last – the days were past
When flocks whirred through the sky.

At Cincinnati Zoo one day,
Poor lonely Martha passed away.
The last was dead, her soul was led
Across that boundless sky.

And only then did mankind weep,
A bitter harvest would he reap
For many years, as futile tears
Fell flooding from the sky.

But though their mortal days are done,
The pigeons’ spirits linger on.
For up in Space, beyond man’s face,
On silent wings they fly.

A NESSIE-SSARY RHYME!

Loch Ness monster (Richard Svensson)

As you know, my poetry has its own separate blog – Star Steeds and Other Dreams (named after and devoted exclusively to Star Steeds and Other Dreams, CFZ Press: Bideford, 2009, my first published volume of poetry). This is because most of my poems do not deal directly (if at all) with cryptozoological subjects, but a few do. So here, for mystery beast lovers everywhere, making its debut on ShukerNature after a previous outing on Star Steeds, is one such example, which also happens to be a little snippet of crypto-history – the very first piece of writing that I ever penned (over 30 years ago!) in relation to the most famous mystery beast of all. Nessie, this one’s for you!


THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

Through swirling mists of early morn,
Across the loch’s dull light,
A dark shape moves with hidden power,
Then disappears from sight
Beneath Loch Ness’s mirky cloak
Of water black and cold.
What lives in this vast underworld,
In Ness’s misty fold?

What creature thrives below the waves,
Beneath the surface grim?
What beast appears in photographs –
Obscure, opaque, and dim?
What creature gave the myths and tales
From bygone days new fame?
Of water horses, fierce, malign,
Which from the waters came,
To strike the hearts of every man
With terror of their forms.
The kelpies – dark, malignant ghosts,
And harbingers of storms.

So what gave all these legends life –
A creature huge in size,
With tiny horns and rhomboid limbs,
And glowing, deathless eyes?
A relic from the ancient past,
Disturbed by modern worlds?
It will be long, indeed, before
This secret is unfurled.

STAR STEEDS - GALLOPING HOME TO ITS OWN BLOG!

Whereas my first 14 books and numerous articles have all focused to greater or lesser extents upon non-fictional zoology, cryptozoology, Forteana, and mythology, my 15th book, Star Steeds and Other Dreams, is, as its subtitle The Collected Poems reveals, a collection of my poetry. As this is such a departure from my more familiar writings, upon reflection I felt that it deserved its own, completely separate blog.

And with that in mind, I have now created one for it, entitled - surprise, surprise! - Star Steeds and Other Dreams, at: http://starsteeds.blogspot.com which I hope that you'll visit whenever you have time, and where I'll be posting selections of my poetry, not only from this book but also various unpublished poems of mine never before seen.

Star Steeds the book is published by CFZ Press, and is readily available directly from them as well as online from such literary stalwarts as Amazon, Waterstones, W H Smiths, Barnes & Noble, and AbeBooks among many other websites. Thanks to everyone who has already purchased a copy, and thanks also in advance to those of you in the future who do so.

STAR STEEDS AND OTHER DREAMS - A PRE-CHRISTMAS OFFER

Pre-Xmas Special: I've a few spare copies of Star Steeds and Other Dreams here, so if anyone wishes to buy one from me before Christmas I'll be happy to sign it. Send me an email at karlshuker@aol.com with details & I'll reply with payment & address info. If you already have a copy, I'll be happy to post you a Star Steed-personalised self-adhesive label signed from me to you, which you can affix inside your copy. Again, just send me an email for details.

All the best, Karl

FIELDS OF REMEMBRANCE

I'm happy to say that my poetry book, Star Steeds and Other Dreams, is now in print and can be purchased from Amazon, directly from its publisher CFZ Press, and by order via all good bookshops. Consequently, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Jon very sincerely for enabling this long-held hope of mine - to see my poetry published one day - to come true.

As my book contains some cryptozoologically-relevant poems, normally I would have included one here, to launch it. Reading through its contents, however, I was reminded that there was a far more relevant poem - bearing in mind that this forthcoming weekend sees Remembrance Sunday. Consequently, although this blog is typically devoted to mystery beasts and the like, I hope that you will forgive my deviating from the norm, just this once, in order to pay my respects to all of the brave men and women in England and elsewhere throughout the world during wartime who have sacrificed so much:

The symbolic association of the poppy with the remembrance of those who fought and fell during wartime is very potent, and is one that I sought to capture and honour in the following poem – my own tribute to those brave heroes who gave their lives so that we could live ours. May we never forget them, and the sacrifice that they made for all of us.

FIELDS OF REMEMBRANCE

Far through the countryside’s languorous dreaming
Strolled I one morning in summertime past,
Wondering why this enrapturing vista
Couldn’t unchanging forever more last.

And as I gazed o’er its velvet-gowned valleys,
There lay a poppy field, burnished and bright;
Scarlet heads tossing on stems green and slender,
Swaying round ever to meet the sun’s light.

Crimson and fiery as dancing infernos,
Eyes filled with darkness like eveningtide’s shades,
Peering through petals emblazoned with ruby,
Outwards forever to sunlight displayed.

And as I stood there, their message came softly,
Brought by the zephyr on swift wings of Love;
For, as I listened, their spirits drew nearer,
Borne ’neath the cloudbanks of Heaven above.

E’en though they spoke without words, without voices,
Eyes sparkling brightly from tall fiery heads,
Theirs was a message more real, yet more distant,
Stranger than any before – for they said:

“We are the spirits of those who for Freedom
Gave up their lives in the struggle of War.
We are reborn in the world they created,
Shedding the tears and the ills that they bore.”

And as I watched them, their petals drooped downwards,
Burdened with dewdrops, each tender and clear,
Capturing memories borne through all ages,
Living again in each poppy-shed tear.

Theirs was a love more intense, more consuming,
Than could be ever disrupted by War;
Peace was their dream and their only ambition,
This was their goal – this is what they died for.

And as I left, still their beauty burnt brighter,
Bright as the sun scorching upwards and higher;
Ne’er would their courage and hope be forgotten,
Cherished fore’er in the poppies’ bright fire,

Burning fore’er in the hearts of all mankind
Living in peace after violence and War.
Freedom has come to this fair English country:
This was their dream – this is what they fought for.

STAR STEEDS...AND FEATHERED SNAKES

Jon at CFZ Press tells me that my poetry book, Star Steeds and Other Dreams, could well be out by the end of this month, so here, as a taster, is one of its poems, in which I portray the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl in his feathered serpent guise. As a contrast, the above photo, of a statuette purchased by me a few years ago in Tijuana, Mexico, depicts him in his human form.

The concept of Quetzalcoatl – an Aztec serpent god adorned with feathers rather than scales, and gifted with the ability to soar majestically through the heavens without needing wings – is one that has long fascinated me, so it was inevitable that sooner or later I would attempt to capture the wonder of this spectacular reptilian deity in verse.

A TRIBUTE TO QUETZALCOATL

Green feathered serpent like Heaven's liana,
Plumes of bright malachite, jasper, and jade,
Furled in rich flourishes, dazzling in glory,
Verdurous rays borne on emerald blades.

And, as you gleam in your jewel-clustered temple,
Coils gliding over your tributes of gold,
Ruby eyes glow with the flames of the cosmos,
Deadly yet passionate, blazing but cold.

Now, as your lightning-forked tongue flickers brightly,
Sibilant breath hissing softly and long,
Bowing before you in rapt veneration
Kneel your disciples in reverent throngs.

Yet, do you laugh at these weak, puny mortals,
Scuttling like ants in the fire of your gaze,
Shielding their eyes in the depths of your shadow –
Turquoise and terrible, willing their praise?

Quetzalcoatl – ophidian idol,
Soaring through Space like a radiant stream.
Aztec divinity, ageless, eternal –
Incarnate god, or a deified dream?