Contents

The Reunion

10

1. BROTHER COAL Brother Coal

( )

Pit Ponies

Returns

A Brace of Snipe

To a Halver

Labourers, Allendale, c.1875

Undersong

The Buttoned Lip

The Prophet

Comeuppance

A Lyke-Wake Dirge

The Matter

Sober-Hearted Man Blues

The Seven Joys of Failure

The Tawny Owl

Powder Blue

The Well

A Form of Words

Last Poem

15

20

21

23

25

28

30

32

33

34 35

36

38

40

41

43

45

46

48

49

56

ii. THE ACTS OF OBLIVION To History 61 The Parasite 62 The Rogue 64 Lord Hearsay’s Palace 75