If the apparently didactic title of Anthony Howell’s book belies the poems in it, that is to be expected of a writer for whom little is what it seems. The law adhered to in `Howell’s Law’ is the law of surprise. And from the start – a lengthy poem in quatrains describing the attempt to get a horse into its box – the book springs poetic surprises. Howell’s sheer invention, variety and wit make this a highly enjoyable book by a poet who, Peter Porter wrote, `has style to spare and is happily unclassifiable’.

Anthony Howell was born in London in April 1945 and was educated at Leighton Park, a Quaker school in Berkshire. By 1966 he was dancing with the Royal Ballet. He left ballet shortly after, however, in order to concentrate on his writing. In 1973 he was a member of the International Writing Program in Iowa. In 1974 he founded The Theatre of Mistakes - a company dedicated to poetic drama - which has performed at the Cambridge Poetry Festival and in art galleries and theatres in Europe and America.