Three new books of poetry, significantly from three different publishers, are thankfully diverse. It is not that volumes from particular publishers are predictably the same but that they do have family resemblances; this is to be expected as publishers’ editors, like reviewers, will have particular tastes. Especially in a non-popular area like poetry it is good that a number of publishers should co-exist to keep have possibilities in the art.

R.G. Hay’s collection, Love and The Outer World is curious in that it is styled as ‘Selected Poems’ and yet is his first volume. It also comes with an apt sympathetic introduction from Elizabeth Perkins. These curiosities are understandable as Hay is a mature poet (he’s fifty-two) whose work has been regularly appearing in the major magazines and who has a fully developed style.