It is not surprising, hearing Mole’s adult poetry, to know he also writes for children; the work is full of seductive and unsettling images, voices and rhythms from childhood. His ‘Variation on an Old Rhyme’ starts in a fairy-tale mood, but brings in escalating violence that leads to war between nations, while ‘The Balancing Man’, written for children in the rhythms of a nursery rhyme, is a warning against the coldly political-minded that holds for adults too. His interest in jazz is also influential in his breathless, single-sentence poems like ‘Fats’, written for Fats Waller and studded with words like “gliss” and “shimmy” that stand out like moments of joy. Joy, or at least happiness, runs throughout Mole’s poetry, and there is little lasting sadness to be found – ‘Serenade’ rejoices in “the best of being here”, and even the weeping aunt in ‘The War’ ends the poem cheerfully chewing gum with the young speaker. However, the haunted Vietnam veteran of ‘Coming Home’ is a stark image that shows the range of Mole’s work.

The poetry on his CD represents Mole’s work for both children and adults, and he has also recorded introductions to many of the poems that explain their themes, their form or the inspirations behind them. He is a clear and accessible reader, with a sense of timing clearly informed by his musical interest – and there is often a welcoming warmth audible in his voice.

John Mole’s Favourite Poetry Sayings:

“A poem is, so to speak, a way of making you forget how you wrote it.” – Randall Jarrell

“Put poetry on a pedestal and it ends up on a shelf.” – W H Auden

“men should know why / They write, and for what end; but, note or text / I never know the word which will come next.” – Lord Byron, from ‘Don Juan’

“If you want to give your unconscious a chance you must keep your eye on something else.” – Louis MacNeice

“Poetry presents the thing in order to convey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing and reticent about the feeling, for as soon as the mind responds and connects with the thing the feeling shows in the words; this is how poetry enters deeply into us.” – Wei T’ai