Second Place RosetteSecond Place Rosette is a calendar of the customs, rituals and practices that make up life in modern Britain. The poems take in maypole dancing, mehndi painting, and medical prescriptions. Some events, like the Jewish Sabbath, happen every week; some, like the putting away of Christmas decorations, thankfully come only once a year. The subjects range from the universal to the personal: every family might have its own ritual, and each culture its own

old ways must change

invisible violence stalks a safari

"A cinematographic odyssey

or a son's twenty-first birthday

filled with spirited and well-informed essays by a man who has listened to and loved the music passionately and critically for more than 50 years

we need hale hand

Rachida Madani A poem from Tales from a Severed Head

Well worth a look

A love letter to architecture

He lives in West London

Inna Kulishova

a novel by the Tunisian journalist Safi Said