Author Archives: Bobby Seal

About Bobby Seal

Freelance writer, poet and psychogeographer

I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain by Anita Sethi

Posted on 21/08/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – August 2021 Warning: This review includes a quote of the racist expletives used by the perpetrator of a hate crime. According to the CPRE, just 1% of visitors to England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural … Continue reading →

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Great Master / small boy – by Liz Lefroy

Posted on 05/08/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – August 2021 In the summer of 2018 Liz Lefroy and her son, Jonty, took a trip across central Europe. They visited Bonn and Vienna on the trail of art, architecture, history and sachertorte. They were also searching … Continue reading →

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The Sea View Has Me Again: Uwe Johnson in Sheerness – Patrick Wright

Posted on 28/07/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – July 2021 It may at first seem puzzling that Uwe Johnson, one of Germany’s most accomplished writers of the twentieth century, should spend the final ten years of his life in Sheerness on Kent’s Isle of Sheppey. … Continue reading →

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Heavy Time: A Psychogeographer’s Pilgrimage by Sonia Overall

Posted on 05/07/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – July 2021 Sonia Overall was born and brought up in Ely, a cathedral city on a rocky island in England’s damp, black-soiled Fen country. A constant presence in her childhood was the river which flowed through the … Continue reading →

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Within Walls

Posted on 14/05/2021 by Bobby Seal

Well, I know how she feels, I have unhappy memories of Chester myself, but it cannot be the fault of the place, surely, because look at all those fine old buildings, and that splendid cathedral.  Maria was especially fond of … Continue reading →

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Grendel’s Mother

Posted on 19/01/2021 by Bobby Seal

In the Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, the eponymous hero kills two monsters that having been terrorizing a neighbouring kingdom. The first monster is called Grendel and the second, a kinswoman of Grendel, is known simply as Grendel’s mother, or Grendles modor … Continue reading →

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Spital Boughton

Posted on 22/12/2020 by Bobby Seal

One of my favourite walks in Chester, before the lockdown, was to take the riverside path that follows the west bank of the Dee all the way from the city centre out to the village of Eccleston. Here there was … Continue reading →

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Mind the Gap

Posted on 11/12/2020 by Bobby Seal

I was at a virtual book launch for Liz Lefroy’s I Buy a New Washer (and Other Moderate Acts of Independence) the other evening. Reading from her book, Liz stressed the importance of gaps and spaces in poetry: The gaps … Continue reading →

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Psychogeographic Review’s Books of the Year

Posted on 10/12/2020 by Bobby Seal

I’ve read over a hundred books this year. Yes, I’m afraid I’m the kind of nerd who actually keeps an annual record of these things. I’ve also, during the lockdown, discovered the joy of the audio-book, books downloaded from my … Continue reading →

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Lear’s Fractured Kingdom

Posted on 29/11/2020 by Bobby Seal

And who’s the fool who wears the crown? Fearless – Pink Floyd, 1972 (Waters/Gilmour) A legacy divided between two daughters, a third daughter disinherited. Manipulation and calculated flattery are rewarded while honesty and simple filial love is rejected. A kingdom … Continue reading →

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