"A Few Late Flowers" by Cliff Ashby (HappenStance, 2007)

I didn't get on with this, though the author's had 3 books published by Carcanet, so it's better that you judge for yourself. On the back cover it says "never self-indulgent" but I felt that too much space was devoted to issues that too many readers will already be aware of, or have experienced themselves. Old age, like first love, might feel unique to the person concerned, which makes the use of these subjects in art somewhat challenging. Here for example is the penultimate stanza of "Sycamores". They come after the narrator has wondered whether "trees have Their own moods, or Do mine project themselves Onto the tree?" and has also wondered "At the true nature of trees"

Were they created For the pleasure And distraction of man Or is there a purpose To their existence That the imagination Has not yet conceived?

I can see how this can be used to reveal character or be used in some ironic way. The final stanza delivers a justification, but insufficient for a 2 page poem.