REITERATION covers the poet’s varied experiences from his active service in Cyprus in his youth, being a medical entomologist in the tropics, his Christian faith, political observations, scientific insights and being a husband, father and grandfather.
A reviewer of his previous poems says “Henry Disney’s is… a beautiful mind, and a tough mind”
"Henry Disney's is, to borrow a phrase, a beautiful mind, and also a tough mind." So wrote Kitty Ferguson in her review of his sixth collection. This seventh collection of poems reinforces this perception. His delight in nature, ideas and humanity is never sentimental. His poems are as challenging as ever as he ranges over his varied experience and encounters with a diversity of people. Topics include being on active service in Cyprus in his youth, his deep commitment to his scientific work and evolution, his hard headed Christian faith, his occasional forensic work, his grandchildren, politics and a variety of situations. Ranging from limericks to a poem of more than 100 lines, all are skilfully crafted and, even when handling specialized notions, are never obscure. The range of topics covered and variety of styles aim to communicate, to challenge on occasions but above all to give pleasure.
Henry Disney was born in Dorset in 1938. From the age of 3-7 the War resulted in himself and two sisters being separated from their parents, who were stuck in the Sudan. On leaving school in 1957 he did his National Service in the Royal Artillery, becoming a bombardier on active service in Cyprus before becoming a subaltern on Salisbury Plain. He then read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University (with a part I in zoology, botany and geology and a part II in zoology). He was then Assistant Warden of the Flatford Mill Field Centre in Suffolk, mainly teaching field zoology. On marrying the Centre’s secretary, Audrey, they were obliged to leave for a lack of married accommodation. He was then the Medical Entomologist at the Dermal Leishmaniasis Research Unit in British Honduras (Belize), employed by the Ministry of Overseas Development. His research was mainly on the [...]
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