He won the National Poetry Competition in 1999 and came 2nd in 1996. Other poems have appeared in the TLS, Poetry Review, etc. Pages 11-56 of this £8.95 book have poems - 20p/page. Poems like "The Lane" (4 lines) don't merit repeated readings. His metaphors are rather hit-and-miss. On p.13 for example he has
- "the bullet passed through ... like a presidential motorcade tearing through slums on the way to the airport"
- "an eye unblinking as justice"
- "prayer, God's junk mail"
The 3rd is ok, but the other 2 creak. The unevenness of the metaphors continues through the book - "shaking his loneliness/out like a tablecloth"; "like a claims assessor/ after a fire/ supposedly caused/ by faulty wiring"; "plunging after the carrot/ of breath".
I liked "Forensic" and "Believed" (1st line - "There's a missing person in everyone") along with parts of "Hook" and "Cavalier".
