The Penguin Book of Poetry from Britain and Ireland since 1945 EDITED BY SIMON ARMITAGE AND ROBERT CRAWFORD VIKING CONTENTS Introduction xix EDWIN MUIR 1887-1959 The Interrogation 1 The Annunciation 2 The Horses 3 HUGH MACDIABMID 1892-1978 Crystals Like Blood 5 To a Friend and Fellow-Poet 6 DAVID JONES 1895-1974 from The Sleeping Lord 7 ROBERT GRAVES 1895-1985 The White Goddess 9 Apple Island 10 Surgical Ward: Men 11 AUSTIN CLARKE 1896-1974 from Eighteenth Century Harp Songs (Mabel Kelly) 12 RUTH PITTER 1897—1992 Old Nelly's Birthday 13 BASIL BUNTING 1900-1985 from Briggflatts 15 STEVIE SMITH 1902-1971 Do Take Muriel Out 20 Not Waving but Drowning 21 The Jungle Husband 22 Piggy to Joey 22 PATRICK KAVANAGH 1904—1967 A Christmas Childhood 23 The Long Garden 25 I vi | Contents JOHN BETJEMAN 1906-1984 A-Subaltern's Love-Song 26 I. M. Walter Ramsden ob. March 26, 1947, Pembroke College, Oxford 28 Executive 29 Louis MACNEICE 1907-1963 All Over Again 30 Soap Suds 31 The Suicide 31 The Taxis 32 W. H. AUDEN 1907-1973 The Fall of Rome 33 The Shield of Achilles 34 First Things First 36 In Praise of Limestone 37 JOHN HEWITT 1907-1987 I Write For ... 40 The Scar 41 KATHLEEN RAINE 1908— Air 42 The Pythoness 42 ROBERT GARIOCH 1909-1981 The Wire 43 NORMAN MACCAIG 1910—1996 Summer farm 48 July evening 49 Aunt Julia 50. Toad 51 Small boy 52 SOMHAIRLE MACGILL-EAIN/SORLEY MACLEAN 1911-1996 Soluis/Lights 53 Hallaig/Hallaig 54 A' Bheinn air Chall/The Lost Mountain 58 ROY FULLER 1912—1991 1948 60 Contents | vii | GEORGE BARKER 1913-1991 On a Friend's Escape from Drowning off the Norfolk Coast 61 from Villa Stellar 62 R. S. THOMAS 1913— A Peasant 63 Because 64 Concession 65 The Coming 65 The Way of It 66 Gift 66 DYLAN THOMAS 1914-1953 In my craft or sullen art 67 Lie still, sleep becalmed 68 Do not go gentle into that good night 68 Fern Hill 69 A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London 71 NORMAN NICHOLSON 1914-1987 The Tame Hare 72 The Shape of Clouds 73 SYDNEY GOODSIR SMITH 1915-1975 The Grace of God and the Meth-Drinker 74 GAVIN EWART 1916-1995 The Dildo 76 Crimewatch 76 CHARLES CAUSLEY 1917— My Friend Maloney 78 Loss of an Oil Tanker 79 W. S. GRAHAM 1918-1986 Listen. Put On Morning 80 Malcolm Mooney's Land 81 I Leave This at Your Ear 86 Greenock at Night I Find You 87 PATRICIA BEER 1919- The Fifth Sense 88 Head of a Snowdrop 89 I viii I Contents EDWIN MORGAN 1920- Message Clear 90 Canedolia 92 The First Men on Mercury 93 Cinquevalli 95 D. J. ENRIGHT 1920- Oyster Lament 97 Entertaining Women 98 RUARAIDH MACTHOMAIS/DERICK THOMSON I92I — Clann-Nighean An Sgadain/The Herring Girls 99 Cisteachan-Laighe/Coffins 101 GEORGE MACKAY BROWN 1921 —1996 The Old Women 103 Kirkyard 104 Taxman 104 from Stations of the Cross (The Stone Cross) 105 DONALD DAVIE 1922-1995 The Priory of St Saviour, Glendalough . 106 Revulsion 107 PHILIP LARKIN 1922-1985 The Whitsun Weddings 108 Here no This Be The Verse 111 Sad Steps 112 Water 112 DANNIE ABSE 1923— White Balloon 113 DENISE LEVERTOV 1923- Casselden Road, NWIO 115 The Rainwalkers 115 A Map of the Western Part of the County of Essex in England 116 Psalm Concerning the Castle 117 KAREN GERSHON 1923-1993 I Was Not There 118 Contents | ix | JOHN ORMOND 1,923 -1990 Design for- a Quilt 120 JAMES BERRY 1924- Folk Proverbs Found Poems 121 ELIZABETH BARTLETT 1924- Charlotte, Her Book 123 IAN HAMILTON FINLAY 1925— The Cloud's Anchor 124 Evening — Sail 125 Star/Steer 126 'Acrobats' 127 from SF 128 ELIZABETH JENNINGS 1926- Lazarus 129 The Diamond Cutter 129 My Grandmother 130 CHRISTOPHER LOGUE 1926- The Song of the Dead Soldier 131 CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON 1926- A Forge in Darkness 133 RICHARD MURPHY 1927— Slate 134 CHARLES TOMLINSON 1927- A Given Grace 135 The Blade 136 THOMAS KINSELLA 1928- Ancestor 137 IAIN MAC A'GHOBHAINN/IAIN CRICHTON SMITH 1928— Old Woman 138 Na h-eilthirich/The Exiles 139 Owl and Mouse 140- Gaelic Stories 141 I x I Contents BOBI JONES 1929- Merch Siop/Shop Girl 143 Aber-porth/Aber-porth 145 Mynwent Bilbo/Bilbao Cemetery 147 U. A. FANTHORPE 1929- The Poet's Companion 149 PETER PORTER 1929— Annotations of Auschwitz 150 Eat Early Earthapples 152 Soliloquy at Potsdam 154 An Exequy 155 THOM GUNN 1929- The Unsettled Motorcyclist's Vision of his Death 158 Touch 160 The Discovery of the Pacific 161 The Man with Night Sweats 162 ELAINE FEINSTEIN 1930- Father 163 Mother Love 164 ROY FISHER 1930- The Entertainment of War 165 Report on August 166 ANTHONY THWAITE 1930- Mr Cooper 168 TED HUGHES 1930- The Thought-Fox 170 Wind 171 Full Moon and Little Frieda 172 February 17th 172 The Last of the ist/5th Lancashire Fusiliers 174 SYLVIA PLATH 1932-1963 ; You're 175 .v The Arrival of the Bee Box 176 Daddy 177 Edge 180 Contents | xi | JENNY JOSEPH 1932- The lost sea 181 GEOFFREY HILL 1932- Genesis 183 Two Formal Elegies 185 Ovid In The Third Reich 186 September Song 186 from Mercian Hymns 187 ADRIAN MITCHELL 1932- Celia Celia 188 PETER REDGROVE 1932- A Twelvemonth 189 The First Earthquake 190 from Six Odes (IV Wardrobe Lady) 191 PETER SCUPHAM 1933— Going Out: Lancasters, 1944 193 ANNE STEVENSON 1933- The Marriage 194 The Fish are all Sick 195 Where the Animals Go 195 The Fiction-Makers 196 FLEUR ADCOCK 1934- A Surprise in The Peninsula 198 Country Station 199 Against Coupling 200 The Ex-Queen among the Astronomers 201 BRENDAN KENNELLY 1936- A Holy War 202 The Visit 203 GILLIAN CLARKE 1937- Chalk Pebble 203 Overheard in County Sligo 204 JOHN FULLER 1937- The Cook's Lesson 205 Concerto for Double Bass 206 I xii I Contents TONY HARRISON 1937— Them & [uz] 207 Book Ends 209 Continuous 210 Marked With D. 211 Timer 211 ROGER MCGOUGH 1937- Goodbat Nightman 212 KEN SMITH 1938- The road to Henrietta's house 213 SEAMUS HEANEY 1939- Digging 215 Punishment 216 The Harvest Bow 217 The Railway Children 218 Seeing Things 219 MICHAEL LONGLEY 1939- Wounds 221 The Linen Industry 222 Detour 223 An Amish Rug 224 Ceasefire 224 PAULINE STAINER 1941- Sighting the Slave Ship 225 DEREK MAHON 1941— As It Should Be 226 The Last of the Fire Kings 227 Matthew V. 29-30 228 A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford 230 EILEAN Ni CHUILLEANAIN 1942- Deaths and Engines 232 DOUGLAS DUNN 1942- On Roofs of Terry Street 234 The Come-on 234 St Kilda's Parliament: 1879—1979 236 Contents | xiii | Reading Pascal in the Lowlands 239 Land Love- 240 HUGO WILLIAMS 1942- A Picture of a Girl in a Bikini 241 Standstill 243 Old Boy 244 VICKI FEAVER 1943- Rope 245 TOM LEONARD 1944- The Voyeur 246 from Unrelated Incidents 247 hangup 248 CRAIG RAINE 1944- The Onion, Memory 249 A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 251 The Man Who Invented Pain 252 JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT 1944— As He Found Her 255 KIT WRIGHT 1944- I Found South African Breweries Most Hospitable 256 DAVID CONSTANTINE 1944- The Door 257 Watching for Dolphins 258 EAVAN BOLAND 1944- Mountain Time 259 The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave Me 260 The Dolls Museum in Dublin 261 from Writing in a Time of Violence: A Sequence (1 That the Science of Cartography is Limited) 262 PAUL DURCAN 1944- The Hay-Carrier 264 In Memory of Those Murdered in the Dublin Massacre, May 1974 264 Ulysses 265 I xiv I Contents CAROL RUMENS 1944- Stealing the Genre 268 SELIMA HILL 1945- The Significance of Significance 271 The Unsuccessful Wedding-Night 272 Cow 272 Don't Let's Talk About Being In Love 274 BERNARD O'DONOGHUE 1945- O'Regan the Amateur Anatomist 275 WENDY COPE 1945- Waste Land Limericks 276 Two Cures for Love 277 PETER DIDSBURY 1946- The Guitar 277 The Shore 279 An Expedition 280 PETER READING 1946— Midnight, 280 from Ukulele Music 281 PENELOPE SHUTTLE 1947— Taxing the Rain 288 Liz LOCHHEAD 1947- My Mother's Suitors 289 What The Pool Said, On Midsummer's Day 291 JOHN ASH 1948— Unwilling Suspension 292 Party Damage 294 Early Views of Manchester and Paris: First View 295 DENISE RILEY 1948- Shantung 296 CIARAN CARSON 1948- Dresden 297 Belfast Confetti 301 Bloody Hand 301 The Brain of Edward Carson 302 Contents | xv | TOM PAULIN 1949- Settlers 303 A Lyric Afterwards 303 Peacetime 304 GILLIAN ALLNUTT 1949— Convent 305 CHRISTOPHER REID 1949- Stones and Bones 307 JAMES FENTON 1949- A German Requiem 308 A Staffordshire Murderer 312 The Ballad of the Imam and the Shah 315 JOHN AGARD 1949- Listen Mr Oxford don 318 GRACE NICHOLS 1950- Thoughts drifting through the fat black woman's head while having a full bubble bath 320 Mystery 321 BLAKE MORRISON 1950— from The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper 322 MEDBH MCGUCKIAN 1950- Slips 324 Venus and the Rain 325 Yeastlight 326 JOHN COOPER CLARKE 1950- beezley street 327 FRANK KUPPNER 1951- from A Bad Day for the Sung Dynasty 330 MENNA ELFYN 1951- Dyn Eira/Snowman 332 PAUL MULDOON 1951- Incantata 334 NUALA Ni DHOMHNAILL 1952- Geasa/The Bond 346 I xvi I Contents An tSeanbhean Bhocht/The Shan Van Vocht 348 -Ceist na Teangan/The Language Issue 352 LINTON KWESI JOHNSON 1952- Inglan Is a Bitch 353 ANDREW MOTION 1952— The Letter 355 Bathing at Glymenopoulo 357 On the Table 360 HELEN DUNMORE 1952— The dream-life of priests 361 Wild strawberries 363 SEAN O'BRIEN 1952- Cousin Coat 364 A Rarity 365 Reading Stevens in the Bath 367 MATTHEW SWEENEY 1952— Blue Shoes 368 Jo SHAPCOTT 1953— Phrase Book 371 ALISON BRACKENBURY 1953- Grooming 372 IAN DUHIG 1954— From the Irish 373 MONIZA ALVI 1954— Arrival 1946 374 MICHAEL DONAGHY 1954- Shibboleth 374 Liverpool 375 Reliquary 376 JOHN BURNSIDE 1955— Faith 376 -• Dundee 377 Science 378 Contents | xvii | JAMIE MCKENDRICK 1955— On/Off ~ 379 PAULA MEEHAN 1955— The Man who was Marked by Winter 380 CAROL ANN DUFFY 1955— Warming Her Pearls 381 Adultery 3 82 Prayer 384 Mrs Lazarus 384 ROBIN ROBERTSON 1955— Artichoke 386 SUJATA BHATT 1956- a«1 (Sherdi) 387 What Is Worth Knowing? 3 88 MICK IMLAH 1956— Tusking 389 SARAH MAGUIRE 1957— Uisge Beatha 392 OLIVER REYNOLDS 1957- Anna Colutha in Suffolk 392 MICHAEL HOFMANN 1957— Between Bed and Wastepaper Basket 394 BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH 1958- Dis Poetry 395 MEG BATEMAN 1959- Aotromachd/Lightness 397 GWYNETH LEWIS 1959— Pentecost 398 FRED D'AGUIAR 1960- Mama Dot 400 The Day Mama Dot Takes 111 401 PETER SIRR 1960- Recognition 402 I xviii I Contents STEPHEN KNIGHT i960— The Mermaid Tank 403 W.