While on the way to the shops yesterday, I met an acquaintance. As one does in such situations, we passed the time of day. During our conversation my companion thanked me for the print copy of my collection of poetry, “My Old Clock I Wind”, that I had given him. He had he said read it 3 times and intended to read it again. My poetry was, in his view bleak and reminded him of Schopenhauer.

I must confess to never having read Shopenhauer, but the words of my acquaintance kindled in me a desire to read up on the philosopher. For anyone interested in learning more about Arthur Schopenhauer I recommend the above article as a good starting point.

As to whether my poetry does, in any sense chime with the ideas expressed by the German philosopher, I feel unable to comment other than to state unequivocally that I repudiate in the strongest possible terms the anti-Semitic views attributed to Shopenhauer.

Anti-semitism is vile and led to the extermination of approximately 6 million Jews (men, women and children). Sadly there remain those on the far-right of politics who continue to propagate the lie that there was no “Final Solution”. Such denials are dangerous and those who propagate them contribute to the curse of anti-semitism.

Kevin