Quirky and Curious Verse, 1941-2011

About the Book

This eclectic collection of verse originates from short “school essays” found on the back of drawings made in 1941. These were later transformed into verse. My daughter became the real inspiration for this collection. In the 1960s she wanted to exchange verse, instead of having me read a bedtime story to her. We went on to do this, off and on, for several years. Most of the verses in this collection were written later on aeroplanes and trains while travelling. They provide a commentary on life, sometimes wistful, sometimes amusing, sometimes irreverent, sometimes critical, sometimes educational, and sometimes imaginative and uncouth. The verses range from observations on the funny side of life to childhood memories, to railing against bureaucracies and man’s ethics and morality, to lauding extraordinary achievements, to fairy stories, and an attempt to explain nature’s major forces to young people! Above all I hope that readers of this wild, chaotic, and mostly lighthearted collection, will find something amusing and of value.

About the Author

Derek Walker was born and educated in Yorkshire, England. After graduation from London and Leeds universities, he worked in Britain’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment before moving to more humane employment, mostly in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry in Britain and the United States. He has lived in the United Sates for the last thirty-six years. From time to time throughout his working life he wrote verse, on an eclectic range of subjects, to relieve stress.