Great Regulars: Many years later, as Adrian [Mitchell] adapted

the last lines of the poem: "Tell me lies about Vietnam..." to include Iraq and Afghanistan, he explained to his audience at Marxism 2006 that the poem had started out as an expression of what he called "compassion fatigue". He couldn't bear to hear of yet more wars.

Alongside such explicitly political work – and his collection "For Beauty Douglas" is one of the truly great volumes of political poetry written in English – he revelled in language itself.

from Michael Rosen: Socialist Worker: Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008)
also Michael Rosen: The Times: Passionate poet unafraid of the big stuff

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