Nonsense Verse

I have to warn you, nonsense verse is the poetic equivalent of Marmite. You'll either love it or you'll hate it. Those who love it will revel in the strange parallel universes that Max's nonsense verse conjures up, immerse themselves in fantastical setting and weird characters, and puzzle over the meaningless made-up words. Those who hate it should just spit it out and move on.

Tiger Tiger

A poem which echoes William Blake's poem The Tyger, but Max's poem being nonsense verse nothing is at all what is seems.

The Hungry Fish

In nonsense verse terms, this is an easy poem to understand as there are no made-up words. It's simply a poem about a goldfish with a huge appetite who eats anything and everything.

The Ballad of Chip and Pin

A nonsense poem about two brothers who are called Chip and Pin. The nonsense element revolves not only around their unusual antics, but the recurrence throughout the poem of words and phrases related to chips and pins.

Radiator Guy

Perhaps just a poem about a plumber, but if so it's one of the most unusual plumbing poems you're likely to encounter.

The Food Chain

There are talking tea cakes and much more besides in this very silly, very funny poem about food.

A Summer Stroll with Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, wrote wonderful nonsense verse, including his masterpiece, The Hunting of the Snark. However, he died a long, long time ago. In this poem an imagined meeting between the poet, Max Scratchmann, and Lewis Carroll is retold in nonsense verse.

The Night Bird

A poem about a bird and a pussy cat which reaches a most gruesome conclusion.