Author: VO_AdmITSotn21

In this deeply personal episode, we pause to reflect on the quiet power of a life well lived — and the everyday moments that shape who we become. At the request of my niece Joanne, and in loving memory of my sister Tracy, I read The Dash — a poem that reminds us how profoundly…

Poems featured: “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost “The Orange” by Wendy Cope “The Laughing Heart” by Charles Bukowski In this lighter, brighter episode of A Voice Like This, we turn our attention to the small joys -the sparks, glimmers, and brief flashes of warmth that can shift an entire day. Robert Frost offers a…

This episode marks a time of remembrance. We pause to honour those who gave their lives in war — and to reflect on the truth that lies behind the words honour and glory. John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” has become almost inseparable from remembrance itself — a poem of beauty and resolve, written in the…

As autumn deepens and the light fades earlier each day, we begin to measure time in quieter ways. Light & Time brings together two voices – Shakespeare and Vaughan – who, across centuries, reflect on what it means to age, and what lies beyond the boundaries of time itself. In Sonnet 73, Shakespeare offers one…

Bonfire Night — the spark of rebellion, and the quiet wonder that follows. Every November, the night sky in Britain crackles with memory; a celebration of rebellion and the light that follows it. Fire & Freedom explores both sides of that spark: the defiant blaze of revolution, and the quiet wonder of beauty born from…

This Halloween season, A Voice Like This takes a seat by the fire — and invites in two unquiet guests. From the rhythmic unease of a ghost that isn’t there, to a love so still it defies life itself, this special episode explores the shadowed edge of the human mind — where affection becomes obsession,…

In this episode, Phil Rowe explores two timeless reflections on the passage of life — Dylan Thomas’s nostalgic “Fern Hill” and Robert Herrick’s carpe diem classic “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” Thomas’s lyrical remembrance of childhood radiates joy and innocence — until time itself steps forward, gently reclaiming that golden youth. Herrick’s…

Episode 15: Fears and Fire Poems: When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be — John Keats & Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night — Dylan Thomas There’s a shadow that walks beside us all — the quiet reminder that our time is finite. Some poets choose to face that truth…

Some poems are written in fire — words that refuse to bow, even in the darkest of moments. Others remind us that life isn’t just about endurance, but about pausing, noticing, and letting stillness in. In this episode of A Voice Like This, I read two poems that seem to stand at opposite ends of…

Not every poem has to be serious. Sometimes, it’s enough for the words to rattle, bounce, and carry us along for the ride. In this episode of A Voice Like This, I start with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Windy Nights — a short, stormy gallop through the dark. Then we turn to Edward Lear’s The Jumblies,…