Early poems from THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE (1964) and TIGERS (1967) Note on Propertius 25 Flight, with Mountains 25 Beauty Abroad 28 Knife-play 29 Instructions to Vampires 30 Incident 31 Unexpected Visit 31 For Andrew 32 For a Five-Year-Old 33 Comment 34 Miss Hamilton in London 34 The Man Who X-Rayed an Orange 35 Composition for Words and Paint 36 Regression 37 I Ride on My High Bicycle 38 Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow 39 Hauntings 40 Advice to a Discarded Lover 41 The Water Below 42 Think Before You Shoot 43 The Pangolin 44 HIGH TIDE IN THE GARDEN (1971) A Game 47 Bogyman 48 Clarendon Whatmough 50 A Surprise in the Peninsula 52 Purple Shining Lilies 53 Afterwards 54 Happy Ending 54 Being Blind 55 Grandma 56 Ngauranga Gorge Hill 57 Stewart Island 58 On a Son Returned to New Zealand 58 Saturday 59 Trees 61 Country Station 62 The Three-toed Sloth 63 Against Coupling 64 Mornings After 65 Gas 67 THE SCENIC ROUTE (1974) The Bullaun 77 Please Identify Yourself 78 Richey 79 The Voyage Out 80 Train from the Hook of Holland 81 Nelia 81 Moa Point 82 Briddes 82 The Famous Traitor 83 Script 84 In Memoriam: James K. Baxter 86 St Johns School 88 Pupation 89 The Drought Breaks 89 Kilpeck 89 Feverish 91 Folie . Deux 92 Acris Hiems 94 December Morning 95 Showcase 95 Over the Edge 96 The Net 96 An Illustration to Dante 97 Tokens 97 Naxal 98 Bodnath 99 External Service 100 Flying Back 100 Near Creeslough 102 Kilmacrenan 102 Glenshane 102 THE INNER HARBOUR (1979) Beginnings: Future Work 105 Our Trip to the Federation 106 Mr Morrison 106 Things 108 A Way Out 108 Prelude 109 Accidental 110 A Message 110 Proposal for a Survey 113 Fairy-tale 113 At the Creative Writing Course 113 Endings: The Ex-Queen Among the Astronomers 114 Off the Track 115 Beaux Yeux 115 Send-off 116 In Focus 116 Letter from Highgate Wood 118 Poem Ended by a Death 118 Having No Mind for the Same Poem 119 Syringa 120 The Thing Itself: Dry Spell 121 Visited 121 The Soho Hospital for Women 121 Variations on a Theme of Horace 125 A Walk in the Snow 126 A Day in October 127 House-talk 129 Foreigner 129 In the Dingle Peninsula 130 In the Terai 130 River 131 To and Fro: The Inner Harbour 132 Immigrant 134 Settlers 134 Going Back 136 Instead of an Interview 138 Londoner 139 To Marilyn from London 139 BELOW LOUGHRIGG (1979) Below Loughrigg 143 Three Rainbows in One Morning 144 Binoculars 144 Paths 145 Mid-point 145 The Spirit of the Place 146 The Vale of Grasmere 146 Letter to Alistair Campbell 147 Declensions 148 Weathering 149 Going Out from Ambleside 150 SELECTED POEMS (1983) In the Unicorn, Ambleside 155 Downstream 155 The Hillside 156 This Ungentle Music 156 The Ring 157 Corrosion 157 4 May 1979 158 Madmen 158 Shakespeares Hotspur 159 Nature Table 159 Revision 161 Influenza 161 Crab 162 Eclipse 163 On the Border 163 The Prize-winning Poem 164 An Emblem 165 Piano Concerto in E Flat Major 166 Villa Isola Bella 167 Lantern Slides 168 Dreaming 169 Street Song 169 Across the Moor 170 Bethan and Bethany 172 Blue Glass 172 Mary Magdalene and the Birds 173 HOTSPUR (1986) Hotspur 177 Notes 182 THE INCIDENT BOOK (1986) Uniunea Scriitorilor 187 Leaving the Tate 187 The Bedroom Window 189 The Chiffonier 189 Tadpoles 191 For Heidi with Blue Hair 192 The Keepsake 193 Englands Glory 195 The Genius of Surrey 196 Loving Hitler 197 Schools: Halfway Street, Sidcup 198 St Gertrudes, Sidcup 198 Scalford School 198 Salfords, Surrey 199 Outwood 200 On the School Bus 201 Earlswood 202 Scalford Again 203 Neston 203 Chippenham 204 Tunbridge Wells 205 The High Tree 206 Telling Tales: Drowning 207 Personal Poem 208 An Epitaph 209 Being Taken from the Place 210 Accidents 210 On the Land 211 Icon 212 Drawings 213 The Telephone Call 214 Incidentals: Excavations 216 Pastoral 217 Kissing 217 Double-take 218 Choices 219 Thatcherland: Street Scene, London N2 220 Gentlemens Hairdressers 221 Post Office 222 Demonstration 223 Witnesses 224 Last Song 225 TIME-ZONES (1991) Counting 229 Libya 230 What May Happen 230 My Father 231 Cattle in Mist 232 Toads 234 Under the Lawn 235 Wren Song 236 Next Door 237 Helianthus Scaberrimus 238 House-martins 238 Wildlife 239 Turnip-heads 240 The Batterer 241 Roles 241 Happiness 242 Coupling 242 The Greenhouse Effect 242 The Last Moa 243 Creosote 244 Central Time 245 The Breakfast Program 247 From the Demolition Zone 248 On the Way to the Castle 248 Romania 250 Causes: The Farm 251 Aluminium 252 A Hymn to Friendship 253 Smokers for Celibacy 255 Mrs Frasers Frenzy 257 Meeting the Comet 263 LOOKING BACK (1997) I Where They Lived 273 Framed 273 The Russian War 275 227 Peel Green Road 275 Nellie 276 Mary Derry 278 Moses Lambert: The Facts 280 Samuel Joynson 280 Amelia 281 Barber 282 Flames 282 Water 283 A Haunting 283 The Wars 285 Sub Sepibus 286 Anne Welby 286 Beanfield 288 Ancestor to Devotee 288 Frances 289 At Great Hampden 291 At Baddesley Clinton 292 Traitors 294 Swings and Roundabouts 295 Peter Wentworth in Heaven 296 Notes 298 II Tongue Sandwiches 299 The Pilgrim Fathers 301 Paremata 302 Camping 302 Bed and Breakfast 303 Rats 303 Stockings 304 A Political Kiss 305 An Apology 305 Festschrift 306 Offerings 306 Danger: Swimming and Boating Prohibited 307 Risks 308 Blue Footprints in the Snow 309 Summer in Bucharest 310 Moneymore 311 The Voices 311 Willow Creek 312 Giggling 313 Trio 314 The Video 314 NEW POEMS (2000) from POEMS 1960-2000 Easter 317 High Society 317 For Meg 318 A Visiting Angel 319 Its Done This! 320 Kensington Gardens 321 DRAGON TALK (2010) Dragon Talk 327 My First Twenty Years: Kuaotunu 331 Linseed 331 Illiterate 332 Food 333 Lollies 333 Rangiwahia 334 Drury Goodbyes 335 3 September 1939 335 Sidcup, 1940 336 My First Letter 337 Ambulance Attendant 337 Off Duty at the Depot 338 Just in Case 338 Fake Fur 339 A Rose Tree 339 Glass 340 Casein 340 Glitterwax 341 Bananas 341 Clay 342 The Mill Stream 342 Morrison Shelter 343 Direct Hit 343 Mr Dolman 344 Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar 345 Frant 345 Biro 346 Woodside Way 347 Sidcup Again 347 August 1945 348 Signature 348 On the SS Arawa 350 Unrationed 351 The Table 351 Back from the War 352 Temporary 353 Strangers on a Tram 353 Her First Ball 354 Precautions 355 Next: Miramar 356 Summer Pudding 356 Lost 357 That Butterfly 358 An Observation 358 Outside the Crematorium 359 A Petition 359 To the Robins 360 A Garland for Rosa 361 Fast Forward 363 GLASS WINGS (2013) At the Crossing 367 For Michael at 70 367 An 80th Birthday Card for Roy 369 Finding Elizabeth Rainbow 369 Spuggies 370 Fox 371 The Saucer 371 The Belly Dancer 372 Ingeburg 373 Alfred 374 Match Girl 375 Alumnae Notes 376 Nominal Aphasia 376 Walking Stick 377 Macular Degeneration 377 Mrs Baldwin 378 Charon 378 Having Sex with the Dead 379 Testators: Robert Harington, 1558 380 Anthony Cave, 1558 380 Alice Adcock, 1673 381 Luke Sharpe, 1704 382 William Clayton, 1725 383 James Heyes, 1726 383 Henry Eggington, 1912 384 William Dick Mackley 387 The Translator 388 Intestate 391 Campbells: Elegy for Alistair 392 Port Charles 392 What the 1950s Were Like 393 The Royal Visit 394 The Professor of Music 395 Coconut Matting 396 Epithalamium 396 A Novelty 397 My Life With Arthropods: Wet feet 398 Dung Beetle 399 Caterpillars 399 Stag Beetle 400 Praying Mantis 400 Flea 401 Hoppy 402 Stick Insects 402 To the Mosquitoes of Auckland 403 Crayfish 403 Slaters 404 Ellas Crane-Flies 405 Orb Web 405 My Grubby Little Secret 407 In Provence 408 Unmentionable 408 Phobia 409 Blow Flies 410 Bat Soup 411 Lepidoptera 411 Bees Nest 413 Dragonfly 414 THE LAND BALLOT (2014) Where the Farm Was 417 The Sower 418 The Pioneer 419 Sams Diary 420 District News, I 422 Bedtime Story 423 The Fencer 423 This Lovely Glen 424 Migrants 426 A Manchester Child 427 Baggage 429 Celebrations 430 The School 431 Mr Honor. 432 District News, II 433 The School Journal 434 Fruit 436 Mount Pirongia Surveyed 437 The Obvious Solution 437 Milk 438 The Bush Fire 439 Beryl 440 Cousins 440 Telegraphese 441 The Family Bible 442 Bush Fairies 443 Settlers Museum 445 Evenings with Mother 446 The Buggy 446 Eight Things Eva Will Never Do Again 448 Eva Remembers Her Two Brothers Called James 449 Eva Remembers Her Little Sisters 450 The Germans 451 Brown Sugar 452 Supporting Our Boys 453 Armistice Day 454 The Way Forward 455 The Hopeful Author 457 A Friend of the New 458 Shorthand 459 The Bible Student 459 A Profile 461 District News, III 461 Mr S. Adcock 462 The Probationer 462 Te Awamutu Road Rant 464 The Sensational 466 The Kea Gun 467 Sole Charge 469 The Plain and Fancy Dress Ball 470 The Swimmer 472 Visiting the Ridgeways 473 Reconstituting Eva 473 Ragwort 474 Walking Off 476 The Roads Again 476 The Hall: A Requiem 478 Barton Cottage, 1928 479 Cyrils Bride 480 Nostalgia Trip, 1976 481 Jubilee Booklet, 1989 483 The Archive 483 State Highway 31 484 Notes 485 HOARD (2017) I Loot 489 Mnemonic 491 Her Usual Hand 492 Six Typewriters 493 Flat-Warming Party, 1958 494 The Anaesthetist 494 The Second Wedding 495 The Sleeping Bag 496 A Game of 500 497 La Contessa Scalza 497 North London Polytechnic 498 Election, 1964 498 Kidnapped 499 II Ann Janes Husband 500 Mothers Knee 500 Camisoles 502 The March 502 You, Ellen 504 III Hortus 509 A Spinney 509 Fox-Light 511 Albatross 511 Cheveux de Lin 513 My Erstwhile Fans 514 The Bookshop 514 Maulden Church Meadow 514 Oscar and Henry 515 Real Estate 516 The Lipstick 516 Hair 517 Pacifiers 517 Bender 518 Hot Baths 518 Standedge 519 Hic Iacet 519 IV Pakiri 520 Helensville 521 Ruakaka 521 Blue Stars 522 Fowlds Park 524 Mercer 525 Alfriston 526 Thames 527 Raglan 528 Miramar Revisited 529 Carterton 530 Tinakori Road 531 High Rise 532 The Old Government Buildings 533 Lotus Land 535 THE MERMAIDS PURSE (2021) The Mermaids Purse 539 Island Bay 539 The Teachers Wife 540 The Islands 544 A Bunch of Names 544 The Fur Line 546 A Feline Forage in Auckland 546 House 547 Peters Hat 548 A Small Correction 549 In the Cupboard 549 Giza 550 Siena 551 Realms 551 In the Cloud 552 Hollyhocks 552 Berries 553 Amazing Grace 554 Kathi Bowden in Bavaria 555 Divining 556 Welsh 557 This Fountain 558 Magnolia Seed Pods 558 Bats 559 Novice Flyer 562 Wood Mice 562 Sparrowhawk 563 Election 1945 564 The Little Theatre Club 564 The Other Christmas Poem 565 Anadyomene 566 Victoria Road 566 To Stephenie at 11pm 567 Lightning Conductor 567 The Annual Party 568 Letting Them Know 570 Blackberries 570 Tatters 571 The Old Road 572 Poems for Roy: i.m. Roy Fisher, 1930-2017 Dead Poets Society 575 Jade Plant 576 Double Haiku 576 Elm 577 Four Poems and a Funeral 577 Maundy Thursday 2017 578 An April Bat 579 Porridge 579 Annual Tribute 580 Winter Solstice 581 Snowman 582 Mayonnaise 582 Notes 584 NEW POEMS (2024) from COLLECTED POEMS Stint 587 Sorry! 587 Priam 588 Thaw 588 Optimistic Poem 589 Notice to Foxes 589 Goliath 590 A Woodlouse for Kevin 591 Conditional 592 The Lift Shaft 592 Between the Toes 593 O Westport in the Light of Paul Durcan 593 Monica 594 Saint Brigid 595 Saint Christopher 595 Mildreds House 596 Poor Jenny is a-weeping 596 In the Desert 598 Jacky 598 Being Ninety 600 Notes 602 Index of titles 605 Index of first lines 612 Acknowledgements 623
