But Is It Literature?

"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"


Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proved to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to you ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

Book of the Week

Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin


Recommended by William Gee

 Li Cunxin’s Mao’s Last Dancer is set during China’s cultural revolution in the 1940s and follows the life of Li, who gets scouted from his school to be a professional dancer. On the journey from his peasant family to becoming a world-class dancer and travelling the globe, Li encounters many hardships and challenges. For example, we see that his body is pushed to the limit in a quest for the regime’s perfect body-type, and he faces people who doubt his potential. The story is inspired by Li’s own life and therefore the narrative is extremely moving and continually encourages the reader to relate to him.

Due to the fact that the story is inspired by true events, Cunxin’s characterisation is realistic and engaging. Primarily we grow to empathise with Li as the story is a first person perspective, so we experience his emotions first-hand. Cunxin’s style enables the reader to relate to Li in his proudest moments, such as when he is selected to dance professionally. Comparably, we can also sympathise with Li in times of sadness and mourning, such as when his grandmother dies. Therefore Li is portrayed as three-dimensional because Cunxin provides emotional depth to his character. In general, the plot does not reveal too much as it goes on and so keeps the reader guessing about what is going to happen. This maintains the suspense required to keep the reader interested.

Black History Month

Alex Aslett

The latest display in the Walker Library celebrates Black History Month.

The exhibition includes a display about Thomas Clarkson (OP), one of the leading figures in the movement to abolish the slave trade. 

Book of the Week

Euphoria by Lily King
Recommended by Mrs Holmes

Euphoria is the 2014 Kirkus Prize winning novel by Lily King. It is essentially a curious love affair of the 1930’s, largely based on the period the American anthropologist and feminist icon Margaret Mead spent researching traditional cultures in the Sepik Valley in Papua New Guinea.

The tale of the ménage à trois sweeps one onwards to an unsettling dénouement but the most interesting aspect of the novel is the description of the diverse, rich and strange social structures of the region which in the remoter areas of the country are little changed today.