Friday 3 May 2024

Review by Jon Wilkins of "Neurological Birdsong" by A. J. Lees




It was with some concern
that I received a package stamped
RLW Institute of Neurological Studies.
Was there something wrong with me?

Relief was clear when opened.
Neurological Birdsong
a book of poetry
by A. J. Lees.
A treat indeed.

300 poems. 300 gnomes.
Lifted from Tweets
crafted and perfected
over years by eminent neurologist
Andrew Lees.

Inspiring. Riveting. Angry
aphorisms redolent with love and experience.
Insightful. Thoughtful. Disturbing.

Never was birdsong
so apposite
as words flow into each other 
expressing the experience of a life well lived.
A vocation delivered.
A people served.

These are wandering thoughts
of lyrical intent
evoking history, literature,
science and travel afar
to learn and achieve.

26 Sections
from A to Z.
Observations on Burnout:
Bad Science.
Bad Medicine.
Bad Management.
Secrets unveiled.

Parkinson's Disease to COVID Blues,
a myriad of tales
of experiences
opinions and views from an
endangered NHS.
Work. Anecdotes. Reminiscences. 
A litany of thoughts
from past 
to present day.

Advice. Anger. Despair.
And also hope for our future.
The future of his craft.

Where has humanity gone?
Trapped by 
Administration.
Targets.
Meetings.
Trends.
Irrelevancies.

The Patient is all.
The Patient is key.
Never forget the Patient.

A vibrant, intelligent expose
of a system under threat.
From inside and out.

A wonderful collection of 
thoughts and experience.
An unforgettable piece of work.
Do read. With people like Lees
We should never despair.


About the reviewer
Jon Wilkins is 68. He is married to the gorgeous Annie with two wonderful sons. He was a teacher for twenty years, a Waterstones bookseller and coached women’s basketball for over thirty years before taking up writing seriously. Nowadays he takes notes for students with Special Needs at Leicester University. He has had a work commissioned by the UK Arts Council and several pieces published traditionally as well as on-line. He has had poems in magazines and anthologies, art galleries, studios, museums and at Huddersfield Railway Station. He loves writing poetry. For his MA, he wrote a crime novel, Utrecht Snow. He followed it up with Utrecht Rain, and is now writing a third part. He is currently writing a crime series, Poppy Knows Best, set at the end of the Great War and into the early 1920s. Next year he takes up the UEA Crime Fiction Creative Writing MA. The game's afoot! 

You can read more about Neurological Birdsong by A. J. Lees on Creative Writing at Leicester here


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