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Silences and Nonsenses: Collected Poetry, Doggerel, and Whimsy
Adrian Plass has been delighting readers with his poetry for over twenty-five years, and this book finally brings it all together in one volume. As he says, 'To have them all, good, not so good, simple, complicated, light-hearted, funny, serious, sensible and silly collected into one volume is more exciting than I can say'. Funny, poignant, challenging and downright hysterical - these poems will delight readers. Some were born from times of incredible personal difficulty. Others have come from his visits to dangerous and poor parts of the world. Others come from his love affair with the Church. All of them reflect the man, his faith, his life and his joy.
- GenresPoetry
210 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Adrian Plass
137 books105 followersAdrian Plass is a writer and speaker who has produced over thirty books in the last twenty years. The best known of these is probably The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, a gentle satire on the modern church, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide. This and other books have travelled to other countries and are translated into a number of foreign languages. Other books include biography, novels, short stories, a fictionalised account of the author's experiences as a residential child care worker, and collections of poems and sketches. A bemused Anglican, Adrian lives with his wife and daughter in a small market town near the Sussex South Downs.
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
Adrian has been in demand as a speaker in venues as varied as prisons, schools, churches, festivals, literary dinners and theatrical settings. His work also includes contribution to national and local radio and television. Live presentations combine humour, poetry, and story telling, largely revolving around his own inadequacies and struggles as a Christian and a human being.
In recent years Adrian has been joined by his wife Bridget in presenting a more varied and dramatic style of performance. Adrian and Bridget met at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found particular satisfaction in being allowed to ‘do a bit of acting’. They have also been privileged to work alongside World Vision on several occasions, visiting Bangladesh and Zambia, writing two books and touring both in the UK and abroad with the aim of encouraging people to take up child sponsorship
Their work now takes them as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, while trips to Europe have introduced the added dimension of speaking through interpreters. Not easy when you're trying to be funny!
Adrian's latest books include ‘Jesus Safe Tender and Extreme‘, published by Zondervan, ‘Blind Spots in the Bible’, published by BRF, and most recent of all ‘Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation’ published by Authentic Media. He and Bridget have also collaborated with friends in Canada to produce a CD of his favourite sketches from the last 20 years called ‘Preaching to the Converted’ while ‘A Touch of Plass’, CTA’s documentary video, is now out on DVD.
2008 began with a visit to Bolivia for Bridget and Adrian in collaboration with the charity Toybox to look at projects involving street children. Later on there will be a DVD, a book and a number of presentations promoting their work.
Adrian's central motivation continues to be his love for Jesus, although some may feel he expresses it rather eccentrically. His passion is to communicate the need for reality in faith, and a truth that he learned during a difficult stage in his life: "God is nice and he likes me..." Some have described his work as being ‘one long confessional’. They may well be right!
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2021
Poverty comes tapping on the window of our car
But I know the ropes
Stay quite calm, don't meet their eyes
Relationship is fatal
Register no silent questions
Offer no replies
For God's sake don't explain
Don't say
Now look you haven't understood
I'm on your side
I'm sponsored by World Vision
An international agency
I'm here to write a book for them, here to help the poor
The profits will all go to you
Well, no, not you precisely, but to people just like you
Well, slightly younger and-
Look, just stop tapping on the window, will you?
Go away - I've told you that I care about the poor
We all do, every one of us inside this car
No, no, no, it's really not as simple as the needs
you have today
You - you have to go and be where there's a project
That's the way it works - it has to be like that, you see
It's got to be well organised
These one-off payments never work, because -
Get off my window ...
Heartfelt. Vulnerable. Profound. Searingly honest. Just read it.
But I know the ropes
Stay quite calm, don't meet their eyes
Relationship is fatal
Register no silent questions
Offer no replies
For God's sake don't explain
Don't say
Now look you haven't understood
I'm on your side
I'm sponsored by World Vision
An international agency
I'm here to write a book for them, here to help the poor
The profits will all go to you
Well, no, not you precisely, but to people just like you
Well, slightly younger and-
Look, just stop tapping on the window, will you?
Go away - I've told you that I care about the poor
We all do, every one of us inside this car
No, no, no, it's really not as simple as the needs
you have today
You - you have to go and be where there's a project
That's the way it works - it has to be like that, you see
It's got to be well organised
These one-off payments never work, because -
Get off my window ...
Heartfelt. Vulnerable. Profound. Searingly honest. Just read it.
May 28, 2013
By no means every poem in this collection is a masterpiece, but there are some that are so wonderful that they they would be worth a 5 star rating on their own. As anyone who loves his writing will know, Adrian Plass has a special ability to bring together heaven & earth, God & humanity, "the sacred and the profane" and make them equally real. It is a pleasure to have all his poems together, to reread old favourites and to discover new ones. As Adrian Plass himself says in the Foreword, "To have them all, good, not so good, simple, complicated, light-hearted, funny, serious, sensible and silly collected into one volume is more exciting than I can say."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews