So They Call You Pisher!: A Memoir

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There’s a way sometimes when writing is a bit like gathering up some stuff and getting it into one place… I hadn’t actually put it all together in one place. In spite of this he has survived, and has even learned to find joy in life in the aftermath of tragedy. He has written elsewhere about the support and care he received from the NHS to get him back to a functioning state.

And, perhaps more importantly, I found myself believing that getting better is possible, however awful the circumstances. Unlike the children around them, Rosen and his brother Brian grew up dreaming of a socialist revolution; Party meetings were held in the front room, summers were for communist camping holidays, till it all changed after a trip to East Germany, when in 1957 his parents decided to leave the Party. As a teacher, I have long term loved Michael Rosen's writing, but since writing so openly about being ill with Covid in 2020 I couldn't wait for this one. Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. Unlike the children around them, Rosen and his brother Brian grew up dreaming of a socialist revolution; Party meetings were held in the front room, summers were for communist camping holidays, till it all changed after a trip to East Germany, when in 1957 his parents decided to leave "the Party.Not just for the necessary – asking for help – but equally important for the mind, writing how you feel, writing a poem, writing a love letter, writing a story.

Getting Better ranges more widely; in something between a memoir and a self-help book, he looks back at difficult and traumatic events in his and his family’s life and considers how he got through them, and shares the lessons he learned in the process. His relationships and hobbies, and recovering from COVID, re-learning to do the most basic of things, such as walking, for the third time.

The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Gosh, Hattie you did well to hold on during Michael Rosen's episode - I was crying into the soap suds while washing up! After growing up on Michael Rosen’s books, it was fascinating being able to have a viewpoint into his life.

The chapters on Alan (his lost baby brother) and the Holocaust; the loss of his teenaged son; and his recovery from Covid are very affecting--the ones on writing, and the details of his physical health program somewhat less so. They spot a woman crying by a wall: she can barely speak through her tears but tells them she is mourning her son who had died 10 years earlier. He was, she says, one of the first poets “to draw closely on his own childhood experiences … and to ‘tell it as it was’ in the ordinary language children actually use.

I am really happy with the final episode, which is an interview with the poet and author Michael Rosen . For those interested in Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Dave Harker's book Tressell is the definitive biography. The Olive Grove by Katherine Kizilos retells the stories of her Greek relatives about the partisans in Greece and the subsequent civil war. It is so refreshing to read someone writing so openly about their struggles, and ways to overcome them.