Plague Clothes is a set of poems written by the Shetland poet Robert Alan Jamieson (and for knitting friends yes, he is connected to the Janieson wool producers!) during his recovery from Covid 19, from which he suffered quite badly.
As he started to regain his strength he went out for a daily walk and when he came home fell into the habit of composing a poem straight onto his Facebook page. Several friends, myself included, urged him to think about having them published, as an instant poetic response to the world of corona virus.
He went one better. With no holiday possible this year he used the money he would have spent as seed money for the establishing of a small new publishing company Taproot Press, run by his son and daughter-in-law and Plague Clothes is their first book. They printed copies for all RAJ's friends who had requested one and they were given free as a thank you for the support given to him during his illness. People being people they all actually wanted to pay, so although there was no obligation we had the opportunity to give to a crowdfunder to help the new company if we wished.
The copies, all numbered and signed, were sent off last week and mine arrived on Friday. It's a beautiful book; hard back, with lots of wonderful photographs to illustrate the poems and I am delighted with it. I would say Taproot have got off to a flying start.
What a wonderful thing to come out of something so awful ❤️
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