It was indeed a great delight when Studio publishing invited me to be the featured poet in the mid-year issue of this well-known journal. I was really thrilled at the opportunity to help produce this collection of my poetry of the last two decades, and greatly impressed by Paul Grover's astute and thoughtful selection of poems from six of my published poetry books, ranging from the 2009 In Due Season' to 2019's Marking Time. Even more delighted when he asked me to put together a selection of 'other' poems, written over the years, including more recent work. Many of these poems have appeared in journals, magazines and anthologies, but others have not been published before. The outcome is Marking Seasons, a seven section book of 165 pages, with six sections drawn from published books, and the seventh titled 'New and Selected Poems' - it's a broad-ranging collection both in time and content.

To make the selection for this last section was in many ways a labour of love. A real chance to re-visit almost twenty years of writing, with about 1500 poems to explore, many of which I'd almost forgotten (and some I'd prefer to forget!). But what a chance to look over the years and the different forms of poetry that I'd tried! Writing the introduction to the book was another opportunity to find out what I thought about the whole enterprise of poetry writing - as I've often said 'I don't know what I think until I see what I've written ...'

I was vastly impressed by Studio's professionalism and speed of action, as well as Paul's whole approach and sympathetic attitude to my work. From his first approach to me at the end of April to the finished book arriving in mid-July, this whole process has been nothing but a pleasure. It's been a rare chance to gather my work of the last two decades and put it in a public arena. So far - another delight  - the response has been enthusiastic. I won't be having the customary book launch, but I'm hoping many of my regular readers will either contact me to purchase or buy the book from the 'order onlne' last section in this website.