7 OCTOBER 1995, Page 34

Muck-up

Sir: I think you might agree that we would enjoy Keats's sonnet rather less if it began 'Muck have I travelled in the realms of gold'. I am not Keats, but I want to be properly printed. Lines 10 and 11 of my poem 'Deus Absconditus' (30 September) should actually read:

Spirals of dog-turds, spills of litter, muck Preserving all this shattered deity.

I hope it isn't too much (sic) to point out that in your version muck (sic) became much (sic). Your version made a sort of sense; but I prefer mine.

Anthony Thwaite

The Mill House, Low Tharston, Norwich