I'm still not certain if I'll be continuing to attend the Writer Development Programme at Yorkshire Art Circus. I can't see what benefits are accruing to me.

I'm also attempting to offer some honest literary criticism to a couple of fellow writers on the programme; but I'm finding it difficult - I have no interest at all in the subjects they're writing about, so what can I really contribute?

MAP REFERENCE

Eyes squint at
Small print on the hill -
Sanitised Gaelic
On an Ordnance Survey map,
I shout;
The echoed reply
As an obscenity.

MAGICK

It's summer again;
There'll be another
Crop of stone circles
In cornfields.

Why do advertisers produce adverts that are so obscure that you're not even sure what they're trying to sell or promote; even after watching them several times?

It's just that at the moment there's an advert (very stylish and well-produced) being shown on TV all the time; produced for the Spanish Tourist Board, but on first viewing it could could be an attempt to sell a car, chocolate, alcohol...or even sex. It certainly isn't obvious.

CARTOGRAPHIC TALE

When the archaeologist
Discovered a crop circle
In a field near a Roman road
Which diverted from a straight line
For no apparent reason,
Against his better judgement
He signed The Official Secrets Act.

JUST ONE MORE

Heavy snowfall
Overnight:
The rhododendron
A lost sheep.