Author: Craig Raine

On my desk, a set of labels Or a synopsis of leeks, Blanched by the sun And trailing their roots […]

Divorced, but friends again at last, We walk old ground together In bright blue uncomplicated weather. We laugh and pause […]

The sun rose like a tarnished Looking-glass to catch the sun And flash His hot message At the missionaries below […]

A pair of blackbirds Warring in the roses, One or two poppies Losing their heads, The trampled lawn A battlefield […]

(for Rona, Jeremy, Sam & Grace) All the lizards are asleep Perched pagodas with tiny triangular tiles, Each milky lid […]

Caxtons are mechanical birds with many wings And some are treasured for their markings They cause the eyes to melt […]

‘and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence’ George Eliot, Middlemarch Dead dandelions, […]

So how is life with your new bloke? Simpler, I bet. Just one stroke Of his quivering oar and the […]