The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found A hedgehog jammed up against the blades, Killed. It had been in the long grass. I had seen it before, and even fed…

Coming up England by a different line For once, early in the cold new year, We stopped, and, watching men with number-plates Sprint down the platform to familiar gates, ‘Why,…

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.       They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had       And add some extra, just for…

My wife and I have asked a crowd of craps To come and waste their time and ours: perhaps You’d care to join us? In a pig’s arse, friend. Day…

“This was Mr Bleaney’s room. He stayed The whole time he was at the Bodies, till They moved him.” Flowered curtains, thin and frayed, Fall to within five inches of…

Once I am sure there’s nothing going on I step inside, letting the door thud shut. Another church: matting, seats, and stone, And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For…

That Whitsun, I was late getting away:     Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out, All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense Of…

“Dockery was junior to you, Wasn’t he?” said the Dean. “His son’s here now.” Death-suited, visitant, I nod. “And do You keep in touch with -” Or remember how Black-gowned,…

‘Of course I was drugged, and so heavily I did not regain consciousness until the next morning. I was horrified to discover that I had been ruined, and for some…

I’ve paid for your sickest fancies; I’ve humoured your crackedest whim – Dick, it’s your daddy, dying; you’ve got to listen to him! Good for a fortnight, am I? The…

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the…

Miss Helen Slingsby was my maiden aunt, And lived in a small house near a fashionable square Cared for by servants to the number of four. Now when she died…