Many of the poems in E.A. Markham’s sixth collection reveal a sense of disquiet which ranges in tone from the comic to the sombre. Yet the overall feel of the book is of something intimate, personal and celebratory, which overrides those darker undercurrents of the poet’s apprehensions.

The poems are accompanied by three fascinating prose sketches which focus on his childhood and his mother’s death. They act as extended footnotes or informing narratives which give individual poems – including those paying homage to Nelson Mandela, the late Andrew Salkey and Brian Lara – a special resonance.

E.A. Markham was born on the West Indian island of Montserrat in 1939. He is a graduate in English and Philosophy, has taught in England, built houses in France and directed the Caribbean Theatre Workshop in the West Indies. In the 1970s he held a Creative Writing fellowship at Hull College of Higher Education and a C. Day Lewis Fellowship in Brent.