POETRY  | Daily Mail Online

THE HEARTLESS TRAFFIC

by Jeremy Robson (Smokestack Books £9.99, 200 pp)

This collection shows that although a man may abandon his Muse for years, she’ll tag along like a faithful wife. Thirty-five years ago Robson ceased writing poetry to become a publisher, but now he is a poet once more — his voice relaxed, quietly confiding, always serious, yet modest.

There are new poems here as well as good selections from previous volumes — many with an Audenesque twist. Some of the most beautiful are about love — for his wife, family and friends. His particular characteristic is generosity: unafraid of an apparent simplicity, he makes the deepest, most personal feelings universal.

Memories flood these poems: a fatalistic acceptance of ageing, tender recollections of dancing ‘cheek to cheek’ to jazz, the inescapable heritage of Jewish identity — and the sleeplessness which torments so many of us with unanswerable questions.

POEMS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH

Chosen and Illustrated by Chris Riddell (Macmillan £12.99, 208 pp)

This beautifully designed anthology about love in many forms is a delight from cover to elegant purple bookmark.

A wonderful gift for a literate teenager, it will also be enjoyed by many others unsure how to approach poetry. Riddell offers a stylish pick ’n’ mix for all tastes and his graceful illustrations enhance this volume, sometimes stretching a single poem out over three or four pages.

His choices range from classic names such as Byron, Shelley, Emily Bronte and Yeats to popular modern voices including Kit Wright, Wendy Cope and Carol Ann Duffy.

I was delighted to see two of my favourite poems, A Small Dragon by Brian Patten and Love After Love by Derek Walcott. The mood shifts from romantic love, through sustaining relationships, to sadness.

TWO GIRLS AND A BEEHIVE

by Rosie Jackson and Graham Burchell (Two Rivers Press £9.99, 108 pp)

This is an enthralling creative exercise — two voices sharing the task of untangling a tormented, artistic love story. You can almost read it as a novel — except that the true story of the artist Stanley Spencer, his wife Hilda Carline and his lesbian gold-digger second wife, Patricia Preece, has been called ‘the most bizarre soap opera in the history of British art’.

One of the saddest aspects of the saga is that Hilda was a very talented painter but (like so many others) neglected her own art to nurture her husband’s genius.

This impressive feat of dual authorship teases you to discover which poet wrote which poem and if there’s a male/female change of tone — but it doesn’t really matter.

Far more useful is to read with your computer on, looking up each painting as it features in a poem — it makes you ache for poor, ill-treated Hilda.