It’s far easier to fall in love with somebody you’ll never meet. I first came across the romantic poet John Keats aged 8. We were told to choose a poem that we would have to memorise for a school project. I remember the teacher giving me a different book of poetry to choose from. All of the other kids were giggling through rhyming children’s collections and illustrated anthologies, and the book she had given me had funny old-fashioned words and no pictures. I scrolled the titles for something that didn’t sound too boring and difficult and eventually found ‘To Autumn’. I didn’t really understand it, but something about rhythm of the words and the imagery they conjured up intrigued me, and so I memorised the poem. John Keats was little more than a name.
TAPE PARADE 