Fleur Adcock will be at Newcastle Poetry Festival on Sat 11 May and at Ledbury Poetry on Sun 30 June; podcast of her London Review Bookshop launch; joint online launch...
Launch reading by Fleur Adcock, Kerry Hardie and Aoife Lyall
Fleur Adcock, Kerry Hardie & Aoife Lyall launched their new collections online on Tuesday 20 February 2024. Now on YouTube. All three poets featured on Books for...
from me, who have trapped mice and shot wild birds,
from me, who drowned your kittens, who betrayed
your closest relatives, and who purveyed
the harshest kind of truth to many another.
But that is how things are: I am your mother,
and we are kind to snails.
*
Things
There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
There are worse things than these miniature betrayals,
committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things
than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.
It is 5 a.m. All the worse things come stalking in
and stand icily about the bed looking worse and worse and worse.
*
Weathering
Literally thin-skinned, I suppose, my face
catches the wind off the snow-line and flushes
with a flush that will never wholly settle. Well:
that was a metropolitan vanity,
wanting to look young for ever, to pass.
I was never a Pre-Raphaelite beauty,
nor anything but pretty enough to satisfy
men who need to be seen with passable women.
But now that I am in love with a place
which doesn’t care how I look, or if I’m happy,
happy is how I look, and that’s all.
My hair will turn grey in any case,
my nails chip and lake, my waist thicken,
and the years work all their usual changes.
If my face is to be weather-beaten as well
that’s little enough lost, a fair bargain
for a year among lakes and fells, when simply
to look out of my window at the high pass
makes me indifferent to mirrors and to what
my soul may wear over its new complexion.
*
The Video
When Laura was born, Ceri watched.
They all gathered around Mum’s bed –
Dad and the midwife and Mum’s sister
and Ceri. ‘Move over a bit,’ Dad said –
he was trying to focus the camcorder
on Mum’s legs and the baby’s head.
After she had a little sister,
and Mum had gone back to being thin,
and was twice as busy, Ceri played
the video again and again.
She watched Laura come out, and then,
in reverse, she made her go back in.
Contents List
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 John’s 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
Shakespeare’s 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
England’s Glory 195
The Genius of Surrey 196
Loving Hitler 197 Schools:
Halfway Street, Sidcup 198
St Gertrude’s, 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
Gentlemen’s 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 Fraser’s 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
It’s 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
Ella’s 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
Sam’s 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
Cyril’s 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 Jane’s Husband 500
Mother’s 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 MERMAID’S PURSE (2021)
The Mermaid’s Purse 539
Island Bay 539
The Teacher’s Wife 540
The Islands 544
A Bunch of Names 544
The Fur Line 546
A Feline Forage in Auckland 546
House 547
Peter’s 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
Käthi 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
Mildred’s 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
