Bathing Strictly Prohibited

Bathing Strictly Prohibited is a collection of poems inspired by the middle years of the eclectic life of a British entrepreneur. Some days a meeting might feel like the last stand of the Saxons against the Norman conquest; on others the challenges of the day may pale into insignificance compared to the beauty of an autumn sunset. Written between 2011 and 2016, the poems in this collection cover a period in which the author struggled to steer a small business through multiple setbacks while helping to bring up two teenage children. The voice that comes through is coloured by a consistent love of history, humanity, and nature. There is something in these poems for everyone who sets out to achieve or change something, especially while juggling aspiration with commitment to family and love of the world around them.

Matthew Rhodes was born in Nottingham and educated at Oxford University, where he gained a first class degree in Engineering, Economics and Management before pursuing a career in industry. He set up his own company in 2003 and has grown it to employ 20 people in Leamington Spa. He’s married with two grown up children and has written poetry intermittently since his late teens.