'a feather floating free'
About John Christmas
All of you who knew John, know that he was a prolific writer of poetry. He wrote about the world around him with irony and pain, as well as celebration and humour.
Since his untimely departure, the idea of bringing a selection of his poems into a book was on everyone’s mind. His younger sister, Anne Sanders, embraced this challenge and the result is about to be printed.
Anne’s research found hundreds of poems. A selection of 96 poems, 4 songs and one short piece of prose, made their their way to this book. This selection tries to reflect John’s eclectic outlook.
in order to raise the money needed to print about 50 copies, Anne is running this crowdfunding campaign on viva-vox.org . This is a unique chance to contribute to this project and as a reward, you will receive a copy.
Hope you will endorse. Please share this page with others who may be interested – the fundraising success partly depends on that too.
Thank you in advance.
Over 90 poems in this very special edition
I have the gift of humour
It makes me laugh you see
I hope it is contagious so
That you can laugh with me.
In We are blessed
Â
I am a feather floating free,
discarded from a wing.
I am a whisper on the wind,
of far-off skies I sing.
In I am a sailor on a sea of circumstance
Â
Often rude and sometimes lewd
My verses are eclectic
A little rumour toilet humour
And sometimes unexpected.
But if you smile or pause awhile
Responding to my scribblings
What you can see is really me
Behind the verbal dribblings.
In To Bee Or Not To Bee

Let there be weeds within
this ordered wilderness.
Let there be dirt within
this sterile waste.
Let idiosyncrasy survive
Within this uniformity.
Let there be oddity among
The evenness.
In Being
Â
In the unaccustomed quiet
Of the pre-dawn morning light
I hear the early song birds call
And the world seems held in thrall.
In The Gods
Â
Guilt and grief
walk
hand in hand.
We could have,
should have,
done more or
perhaps
less.
After all they
are gone
while we remain
and are
forever
changed.
In Bitter Taste
Crowdfunding for this book will cover the printing costs and will give us a pretty good idea of interest.
If there is high demand, the goal may increase by adding an extra number of copies.
Please note that this is not for profit and any surplus moneys will go to the British Lung Foundation.
- This fundraising campaign aims to reach £500
- The campaign aims to print 50 copies
- Reward 1 will deliver one copy
- Reward 2 will deliver 2 copies to the same address
of “a feather floating free”
It’s highly unlikely there will be another print-run of this special edition of poems by John Christmas, edited by his younger sister Anne Sanders.
- You'll get a A5 size 100 page book
- ± 90 poems
- A one off oppportunity to keep this repository of John's poems
In the Campaign below, choose the Reward you want for this campaign.
You can choose 1 or 2 copies to the same address. When you click on your choice, the link will take you to the checkout.
If you want more than 2 copies, you’ll have to make another order, on top of the 2 copies.
Once you are on the checkout, enter your details for payment (debit card). This is safely processed by Paypal. Make sure to fill up the Delivery Address.
You also have the option to make a contribution to this site, which helps keeping this service free for campaigners.
If you change your mind about the number of copies or donation to the site, you can exit and re-start again, prior to payment.
Once the campaign reaches its goals, the campaigner will proceed with printing it and then, posting the items to you.Â
You can keep up with developments through any updates published on the campaign page.
To achieve the goals faster, do share this page with anyone you believe would like to support it. You can do this by copying and sharing the link, or find Social Media icons at the bottom left of this page to share.
- Support this campaign -
John Christmas’ book of poems
by Anne Sanders Tags : book, John Christmas, Poem
£500.00
Funding Goal-
£340.00
Funds Raised -
0
Days to go -
Target Date
Campaign End Method
John often talked about publishing a book with his poems but sadly this never happened. Since his early departure, the idea of finally bringing some of his poems into a book was on everyone’s mind.
His younger sister Anne Sanders took up the challenge and got to work by looking for John’s poems and editing a selection of these into the book that will now be printed, through this crowfunding campaign.
in her own words:
I have attempted to provide a snapshot of his original collection, which includes over 500 poems. I hope you will find here some to make you smile or laugh outright, and others to make you stop and think, although there may be some that bring tears.
This has been quite a journey for me. It was difficult to choose poems, so I apologise if your favourite is not included.Â
I hope that you can support the project.  I know that John thought of publishing, but just lacked the energy.Â
The result is this A5 size book with over 90 poems. The campaign aims are to raise the money needed to print 50 copies. At the cost of £10 each (including post), the expectation is to raise £500.
There’s the possibility of funding 2 copies to the same address for a little less per copy. Were it the case that anyone would like to support more than 2 copies, you’ll have to do 2 funding requests.
There will be:
- Reward 1 – 30 Rewards available of 1 copy at £10
- Reward 2 – 10 Rewards available of 2 copies at £18 (sent to the same address)
Very important – Make sure that you write the delivery address correctly on the checkout form. Please note that the delivery is for UK addresses only.
Anne will keep everyone updated on this page.

Finally, this is a unique chance to get hold of of a copy of John’s poems in a book, researched, edited and produced by his sister Anne Sanders. To raise enough money to print 50 copies, can be a daunting prospect. We would ask you, even if you are not getting a copy, to share this page with others to increase the chances of raising the full amount.
– This campaign is also inserted in the dedicated page https://viva-vox.org/john-christmas-poetry-book/
Notes on Checkout: you can use a debit or credit card. The payment is processed through Paypal. You do not need to have a Paypal account in order to process the payment. The interface will ask you if you want to set up an account with Paypal. Move the button to decline and proceed without creating the account.
Rewards
£10.00
REWARD 1 One copy of the book posted to a UK address for £10
January, 2024
£18.00
REWARD 2 Two books delivered to same address in UK for £18
January, 2024
| Name | Donate Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Cassidy | £10.61 | January 08, 2024 |
| Anonymous | £11.64 | January 05, 2024 |
| Jayne Magness | £10.61 | January 04, 2024 |
| Tracie Anne Beattie | £10.61 | January 02, 2024 |
| Tom Allport | £13.70 | January 02, 2024 |
| Benjamin Wakely | £13.70 | December 31, 2023 |
| Anonymous | £18.85 | December 28, 2023 |
| Anonymous | £41.51 | December 23, 2023 |
| Anonymous | £21.94 | December 21, 2023 |
| JONATHAN ELMS | £15.76 | December 19, 2023 |
| Tim Hutton | £10.61 | December 18, 2023 |
| Kate Lord | £18.85 | December 18, 2023 |
| Susan Spinks | £10.61 | December 15, 2023 |
| Gary Barrs | £49.75 | December 15, 2023 |
| Vanessa Ridgewell | £18.85 | December 14, 2023 |
| Leon Maurer | £10.61 | December 13, 2023 |
| Anonymous | £21.94 | December 13, 2023 |
| Andrew May | £10.61 | December 13, 2023 |
| Gregory Munson | £18.85 | December 13, 2023 |
| Robert Livock | £18.85 | December 13, 2023 |
| Anonymous | £21.94 | December 13, 2023 |
| Hugh Allen | £10.61 | December 11, 2023 |
| Murray Gordon | £13.70 | December 11, 2023 |
| Liam Baker | £10.61 | December 11, 2023 |
| Vanessa Ridgewell | £18.85 | December 10, 2023 |
| Joao Sarmento | £12.67 | December 10, 2023 |


