Shuck on poetry

It's hard to believe, in the context of the past decade's systematic government and police assaults on civil liberties, that there are still people as naive as Jonathan Myerson and his supporters (Letters, 8 May). Once the police have your DNA, what could be easier than "finding" a matching sample at a crime scene? As for Benedict Birnberg's suggestion that moving the database to a completely new body not charged with law enforcement would alleviate concerns, I think four words will suffice: Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Nick Gotts

Many thanks for your comprehensive festival guide (G2, 8 May) but one glaring omission - the Rhythm Festival at the Twinwood Arena, 21-23 August. Run by "Saint" Jim Driver for the love of excellent music, not for money. Despite losing money in previous years he has pushed ahead with another fantastic line-up (www.rhythmfestival.net) so let's try and make 2009 the year he made a profit, or it could be the last one.
Pip Street
Ilford, Essex

Christine Hooper (Letters, 7 May) is mistaken in citing Shakespeare, Keats and Wordsworth as examples of poets of rhyme. While all poetry has rhythm of one sort or another, Keats, alone of the three, wrote mostly in rhyme. Only some of the Bard's lines are in rhyming couplets, and Wordsworth's greatest poem, The Prelude, is in free verse. Modern poetry - like in music and the visual arts - has of course pushed traditional "rules" and conventional forms, but, in the case of successful poems, only for artistic reasons - to move more profoundly.
Steve Till
Alresford, Hampshire

Christine Hooper misses the point. A piece of prose, to qualify as poetry, must have line breaks in odd places.
Roger O'Keeffe
Kraainem, Belgium

The Discovery Museum in Newcastle is a great find (Letters, passim).
Robin Campbell
Gateshead, Tyne & Wear

Missed the Oyster Museum while visiting Whitstable? Oh shuck.
Paula Evans
Whitstable, Kent

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