Poems from 1966 to 2021. On the back cover it says "The poems are primarily conversational". Indeed, the odd poem is formatted as a script, and there's a lot of light verse. There are sonnets, many rhyming pieces, and often easy-going prose-like pieces. An early example is "minipoet", which makes a case for Minis (cars, poets) - "nippy rather than resonant" - contrasting with the older "archpoet" - "extremely well upholstered ... temperamental, wanted to show off". The ending is "most of us prefer the minipoet for the sort of journeys we make nowadays".
At the end of many of the poems I wondered "am I missing something or isn't there much to get?" Here for example are the final 4 lines of the 11 line "Difficulties with girls" - "The daughter of the school librarian/ Rode a horse along half-melting tarmac/ Towards the swimming pool and went on past/ Like general Haig looking for the Somme".
And there are lots of words. Here's part of p.36 - "And those of us who did not ask to become litterateurs,/ Poseurs, flaneurs, or entrepeneurs/ And those of us who did not ask to be/ Minor poets singing in a minor key:/ Who have waited for images with the patience/ Of the fat girl waiting for a dancing partner: Who have struggled with words/ As furniture men struggle with a grand piano, What are we to make of the whole business?". Or what about "If you are not going to/ 'Heaven' it is not because you are not good enough/ (Always assuming 'good' to be used in the way it is normally used,/ And 'because' to be used in the way in which/ It is commonly used in English"?
There's the odd striking phrase - e.g "The American satellite/ Slides over smooth as a baize-bottomed chess piece./ Silent, purposive" - but I soon decided to skim rather than read from cover to cover. My favourite piece was a later one - "Remonstrating with the moon".
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