Einstein's Bicycle

This remarkable, original and imaginative poem, ‘Einstein’s Bicycle’, is the outcome of the poet’s childhood experiences in London orphanages during and after WW2.

Terry says of the poem, ‘Einstein’s Bicycle’, is a slow-burn rant about life’s drama as seen by those who fill the paupers’ pit. Its heroes are the descendants of the bowmen and those who manned the gun-decks. They are the children of the levellers, those who worked the looms and spun the thread – clichés of their class, yet resilient and spirited, always conscious of their inheritance.’

He adds, ‘What begins as the sad tale of a maid in the shadow of the Cenotaph, unfolds as the celebration of a culture old as Chaucer, proud of its pedigree and its vitality to tilt at pomposity and privilege, sustained by the principle of Einstein’s bicycle - if you don’t keep pedalling you’ll simply fall off.’