The Upstairs Country

By Alan Hill

Alan Hill was born in the South West of England near the Welsh border. After leaving school at sixteen he travelled extensively and worked in jobs ranging from renovating old graveyards to working in a jellybean factory before getting his Masters degree in International Development from the University of Leeds in England. Having immigrated to Canada in 2005, he now lives in New Westminster British Columbia with his wife, two children and obsessively collected vinyl LP collection.

Alan started writing poetry while working for a non-profit agency in northern Botswana in 2001. His poetry reflects his interest in historical and social issues and measures this with a keen sense of life's surreal and slippery absurdity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Silver Bow Publishing
• Release date: Oct 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781927616000

Book preview

The Upstairs Country

Author – Alan Hill

Published by Silver Bow Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Silver Bow Publishing

ISBN 978-1-927616-00-0

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

Cover Design: Janet Kvammen

Layout & Design: Candice James

Editing: Candice James

All rights reserved including the right to reproduce or translate this book or any portions thereof, in any form

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

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© 2012 Silver Bow Publishing

ISBN 978-1-927616-00-0

Cover Painting: from painting by Candice James

Cover Design: Janet Kvammen

Layout: Candice James

Editing: Candice James

Cover Painting: from painting by Candice James

Cover Design: Janet Kvammen

Layout: Candice James

Editing: Candice James

All rights reserved including the right to reproduce or translate

this book or any portions thereof, in any form

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Hill, Alan - 1965

978-1-927616-00-0

When the axe came into the woods, the trees all said,

'Well, at least the handle is one of us.'

Old Turkish Proverb

Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to Frances, Thomas and Charlotte and my family in the UK, Canada and Australia.

I would like to thank Antigonish Review, Canadian Literature, CV2, Vancouver Review, SubTerrain, Mother Tongue Publishing and Silver Bow Publishing who have previously published some of the poems contained in this collection.

I would also like to thank Ken and Candice of Silver Bow Publishing without whose enthusiasm and support this project would not have been possible.

Last but not least I would like to thank my great friend Paul Bartholomew for his wonderful back cover write up and ongoing support.

Alan Hill

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Visiting Malcolm Lowry

The Upstairs Country

Sleeping Furiously

In Mid-Forties

Tweeting Lord Franklin

The History Lesson

Tasting Happiness

The Last Peasant

The Season Ticket

Proclaiming A Republic

Coming To Terms