Alan SILLITOE (1928–2010) was an English novelist, children's book writer, playwright and social critic, compared to D.H.Lawrence, who also came from Nottingham.
He introduced in the post-World War II British fiction realistically portrayed working-class heroes.
Best known for his novels, Sillitoe also published poetry, plays, and an autobiography, LIFE WITHOUT ARMOUR (1995).
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OUT OF MY THOUSAND VOICES
Out of my thousand voices
I speak with one
To the waves and flying saltfoam,
Flinging the dovetailed words
Of a single voice
At the knife-edged prow
Of the ship unbreakable
That carries her away.
I throw the one remaining voice
Of all my thousand out to sea
And watch it curving
Into the black-paunched water
Like a falling star,
A single word of love
That drops into the grave,
A thousand echoes falling from her ship.
WORK
Coming down first thing I see
The house in a lake of frost and mist,
Bare trees as in a battlefield
From which bodies have been moved.
By afternoon Life’s all we’ve got,
No more over the horizon
Mottled flame on a sure bed of coal
Burns out in the parlour grate,
Me at the desk creating lives :
No strength to break my own.
SMALL AD
Fanatical non-smoking teetotal fruitarian,
Bearded, early fifties,
Good walker, plays chess –
But finding life dull,
Wants to meet big bosomed
Class-conscious
Fox-hunting
Country-type carnivore female
With view to conversation
Or conversion.