Definitely. And promoting poetry peace. Start right now -- find a poet whose opinions you strongly disagree with and whose work you maybe detest on principle, even if you tend to generalise and they fall into the cache designated detestable by you -- and give them a hug. Yes, hug a Slammer. Hug a Slam-Hater, hug a poetry recidivist, hug a poetry avant garde-ista, hug anyone who's ever rhymed, hug those who have remained rhyme-free for all their adult lives. Hug poets in millinery, hug the hatless versifier. Peace. Tolerance. Joy in variety of line legth and metre and freedom of form.

Here's a hug for Tony Harrison.

Can't stand his working-class cliche poetry. He probably needs a hug, though.

Now there's one dour poet. I'll give him a hug when you've finished with him, Steve! And how about a hug for Andrew Motion because he always looks frazzled?

A big hug for you, too. Bravery should be rewarded.

But do not hug your parachute instructor. (See the news)

I shall hug everyone at the next poetry night I go to!
I bet you's will hold me to that comment now!

You bet!

Funnily enough no one held me to my comment about hugging everyone at the next poetry night I went to, probably just as well as with the turn out some of them have had I'd still be hugging today!

Funnily enough no one held me to my comment about hugging everyone at the next poetry night I went to, probably just as well as with the turn out some of them have had I'd still be hugging today!

I have sewn the sleeves of all my jumpers together cuff-to-cuff so I just hoopla my arms over someone and they're in a hug they can't escape from unless I hoopla my arms off 'em. I have sewn a comy, inflatable sofa to the middle of all my jumpers so whilst I give someone a hug they can sit down and take the weight off their feet. I have also sewn a tea maker on a tray to a hood on the back of my jumpers and one flick of my neck and the hoods drop over and the table's there and the person having a sit-down hug can make themselves a cup of tea. I have sewn solar pannnnellls on the back of all my jumpers to provide sufficient power for the tea makers. My shoes are registered taxis and I can then drop the person having the hug, the nice rest, and the tea -- home. Oh, and next day I always send them biscuits with hand-iced sentiments on them like 'scrabble is to language as bingo is to sudoku.'