This was the first collection I put together in the Autumn of 1998, drawing on things I'd written since about 1985. It's in two sections Muthos and Logos – muthos is 'anything delivered by word of mouth', hence it refers to narratives: 'myths' are narrative accounts that form the basic belief systems of cultures. They are 'what we believe' in story form. Logos is the expression of thought, design or purpose. From it we derive 'logic', logo', 'logistics', etc. In a manner of speaking, logos...

Adonibezek – the 'Lightning Master' – is a little known character who appears briefly in Judges, the seventh book of the Bible.Briefly – Adonibezek claimed to have maimed seventy other kings by cutting off their thumbs and big toes so that they begged for scraps 'under his table'. This imaginative form of imprisonment meant that the victims could neither run nor fight (though they were doubtless able to complain).God enabled the Tribe of Judah to defeat Adonibezek; they cut o...

'Ghosts' started out as two collections of poetry written between 2001 and about 2008, one called Heroes and the other Ghosts. Since then, I've pruned them both, losing several pieces that had meant a lot to me but didn't seem to work in the cold light of retrospect. I've also added in a few more recent pieces that seemed to fit the theme.What do I mean by 'Ghosts'?The best poetry sees through the surface of the world and looks beyond; 'Heaven in ordinarie' as George Herbert ...

Between my finger and my thumbThe squat pen rests; snug as a gun.-- from 'Digging'With its lyrical and descriptive powers, Death of a Naturalist marked the auspicious debut of one of the century's finest poets.

Jenna Butler draws on her own experiences of her grandmother's disappearance into senile dementia to reassemble a sensual world in longpoem form that positively crackles with imagery and rhythm. Identities and memories flow and flicker as she strings together fragments of narrative into stories that comprise one woman's life. It entwines her disappearing life with that of the persona of the woman's granddaughter through a choreographed confusion of identities: of she's and I's. Few poets c...

As a poet, editor and essayist, T. S. Eliot was one of the defining figures of twentieth century poetry. This selection, which was made by Eliot himself, includes many of his most celebrated works, including The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land.Other volumes in this series: Auden, Betjemen, Plath, Hughes and Yeats.

BEOWULF (Anglo-Saxon, "bee wolf" i.e. bear) is an epic heroic poem set in Scandinavia and composed originally in Anglo-Saxon. It is considered to be one of the key works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Probably composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, the story follows the hero Beowulf of the Geats (a Scandinavian tribe) as he battles Grendel, a troll, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. Through his heroism, Beowulf becomes king of Geats.

Entertainment with the emphasis on "tert".Since running away from home at the age of 28, award winning writer Hovis Presley (the award wasn't for writing) has found fame as the inventor of the bra-less strap and the individually wrapped baked bean. His interests include postal kerplunk and choosing the eight sandwiches he'd take to a desert island - currently seven cheese and an egg mayonnaise. He has produced this book using only a pin and a dictionary."The other day I met...

In "Coleridge's Ancient Mariner and Select Poems," Samuel Taylor Coleridge captivates readers with his masterful use of vivid imagery and lyrical beauty, showcasing the complexities of human emotion and nature. The titular poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," explores themes of guilt, redemption, and the profound connection between humanity and the natural world through its haunting narrative and innovative structure. Coleridge's penchant for the supernatural and philosophical is evide...

The title poem from this collection is set on an island that has been a site of pilgrimage in Ireland for over a thousand years. A narrative sequence, it is an autobiographical quest concerned with 'the growth of a poet's mind'. The long poem is preceded by a section of shorter lyrics and leads into a third group of poems in which the poet's voice is at one with the voice of the legendary mad King Sweeney.'Surpasses even what one might reasonably expect from this magnificently gift...

The perfect gift for someone you love, an illustrated collection of love poems from the poet considered to be the greatest writer in the English language.Shakespeare's sonnets are revered the world over for perfectly capturing the torments and joys of love requited or otherwise in just fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. This treasure of a book collects twenty-nine of the bard's most romantic sonnets, each one lovingly illustrated by the talented Caitlin Keegan. P...

William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850, was an English poet most commonly associated with being, along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one of the early figures of British romanticism. Their publication of the volume LYRICAL BALLADS in 1798 often serves as a marker of sorts for when that movement publicly began. As a young artist—already showing signs of being a gifted writer and thinker at St. John’s College, Cambridge—Wordsworth completed an eye-opening, life-altering tour of France after which he...