The Pamphlet is the result of a commission from Artist Caroline Wright.
Arthur was born three weeks premature , between the wars. 28th April 1923 to be precise, whilst his father was watching his beloved West Ham lose two nil to Bolton Wanderers in the first Wembley FA Cup Final. Arthur loved his parents and he loved buses and boats. He grew up as quite an odd, but happy boy. The Second World War broke out when he was sixteen years old and changed his life.
It’s her wild black hair and bare feet,
the way she unfurls a red blanket
onto thistled grass, the basket’s
rationed sweetness, that has Arthur
holding his breath under the ash tree.
“Enthralled by Martin Figura’s ‘Arthur’, poems of love, war and grief, sparely – and beautifully – written.”
-Alison Brackenbury
“….it is those cinematic details that hold you – the image of a little man in his ARP uniform who finds “a dead man propped in a doorway/ the High Street broken apart” who yet just “bends his back to the rubble as the gulls regain their voices.”
-Geoff Sawyer, Magma
“Punchy and sensitively told, Arthur delves into the destructive impact of war on human relationships, with much to admire in its honest and assured language. If only the pamphlet were longer.”
-Jennifer Wong, Sphinx