Men Who Feed Pigeons

By Selima Hill

Men Who Feed Pigeons brings together seven contrasting but complementary poem sequences by ‘this brilliant lyricist of human darkness’ (Fiona Sampson) relating to men and different kinds of women’s relationships with men. The Anaesthetist is about men at work; The Beautiful Man with the Unpronounceable Name is about someone else’s husband; Billy relates to friendship between a man and a woman; Biro is about living next door to a mysterious uncle; The Man in the Quilted Dressing-gown portrays a very particular old man; Ornamental Lakes as Seen from Trains is about a woman and a man she’s afraid of; while Shoebill is another sequence about a woman and a man, but quite different from the others. Like all of Selima Hill’s work, all seven sequences in this book chart ‘extreme experience with a dazzling excess’ (Deryn Rees-Jones), with startling humour and surprising combinations of homely and outlandish. Shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Sep 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781780375878

Selima Hill

Selima Hill grew up in a family of painters in farms in England and Wales, and has lived in Dorset for the past 35 years. She received a Cholmondeley Award in 1986, and was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter University in 2003-06. She won first prize in the Arvon International Poetry Competition with part of The Accumulation of Small Acts of Kindness (1989), one of several extended sequences in Gloria: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), which also includes work from Saying Hello at the Station (1984), My Darling Camel (1988), A Little Book of Meat (1993), Aeroplanes of the World (1994), Violet (1997), Bunny (2001), Portrait of My Lover as a Horse (2002), Lou-Lou (2004) and Red Roses (2006). Violet was a Poetry Book Society Choice and was shortlisted for all three of the UK’s major poetry prizes, the Forward Prize, T.S. Eliot Prize and Whitbread Poetry Award. Bunny won the Whitbread Poetry Award, was a Poetry Book Society Choice and was also shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Lou-Lou and The Hat were Poetry Book Society Recommendations. Her most recent collections from Bloodaxe are The Hat (2008); Fruitcake (2009); People Who Like Meatballs (2012), shortlisted for both the Forward Poetry Prize and the Costa Poetry Award; The Sparkling Jewel of Naturism (2014); Jutland (2015), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation which was shortlisted for the 2015 T.S. Eliot Prize and was earlier shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize; The Magnitude of My Sublime Existence (2016), shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2017; Splash like Jesus (2017); and I May Be Stupid But I'm Not That Stupid (2019). Her 20th collection, Men Who Feed Pigeons (2021) is shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection.

Book preview

SELIMA HILL

MEN WHO FEED PIGEONS

Men Who Feed Pigeons brings together seven contrasting but complementary poem sequences by ‘this brilliant lyricist of human darkness’ (Fiona Sampson) relating to men and different kinds of women’s relationships with men. The Anaesthetist is about men at work; The Beautiful Man with the Unpronounceable Name is about someone else’s husband; Billy relates to friendship between a man and a woman; Biro is about living next door to a mysterious uncle with a dog; The Man in the Quilted Dressing-gown portrays a very particular old man; Ornamental Lakes as Seen from Trains is about a woman and a man she’s afraid of; while Shoebill is another sequence about a woman and a man, but quite different from the others. Like all of Selima Hill’s work, all seven sequences in this book chart ‘extreme experience with a dazzling excess’ (Deryn Rees-Jones), with startling humour and surprising combinations of homely and outlandish.

Selima Hill

MEN WHO FEED

PIGEONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements are due to the editors of Poetry London and The Poetry Review where some of these poems first appeared.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Acknowledgements

The Anaesthetist

The Anaesthetist

The Banker

The Care Worker

The Chauffeur

The Childhood Sweetheart

The Classics Teacher

The Cousin

The Dancer

The Dentist

The Doctor

The Doctor of Philosophy

The Driver

The Duke

The Entomologist

The Ex

The Farmer

The Father

The Film Director

The Finn

The Friend

The Gardener

The Geek

The Great-grandfather

The History Teacher

The Man Who Sits in Saunas

The Married Man

The Mathematician

The Monk

The Nurse

The Opera Singer

The Painter

The Patient

The Photographer

The Poacher

The Retired Solicitor

The Sailor

The Son

The Supply Teacher

The Tennis Coach

The Tennis Player

The Tractor Driver

The Treasurer

The Uncle

The Beautiful Man with the Unpronounceable Name

Standing on His Doorstep

A Happy-looking Man

The Beautiful Man Whose Name I Can’t Pronounce

Never Go Upstairs in the Daytime

In the Tiny House

The People Who Still Call Themselves My Loved Ones

The Toes of the Woman I’ve Never Met

A Café We Could Go To

God’s Gift to Wasps

A Cup of Tea

The Face of the Woman I’ve Never Met

Never Even Hope

A Woman, a Cyclist and a Teapot

The Nose of the Woman I’ve Never Met

Hating Me Would Be a Waste of Time

What Kind of a Woman Am I?

The Word Marriage

Baby

I’m Never Going to Think of Him Again

Bicycles and Tricycles

Krasznahorkai, Djokovic, Leghorn

They Said It Would Be Hard

Eating Potatoes in the Shed

The Cake

European Night Train Guides

Spearmint Freshbreath Mouth-freshening Beads

I Hear or Think I Hear on Moonlit Nights

Billy

My Mother’s Extraordinary Hair

What It Feels Like to Talk to Him

The Plateau Phase

Stone

Crab

Jelly

Raging Torrents, Soaring Peaks

Rain

I Try to Please Everyone

The Woman with the Broken Leg

Honey

Sheep

The Sun in All Its Glory

His Childhood

Romance

Restaurant

The Long Wait

Skinny-dipping

The Married Couple

The Gents

Other Members’ Towels

Expensive French Cheeses

Brandysnaps

Everyone Is Watching

Friendship

As We Leave

The Compliment

Prawn Cocktails

Me and Juan Martín del Potro

Doll

A New Pair of Fleece-lined Gloves

Sitting as Still as I Can

Baby

The Red-haired Swimmer

The Tea Is Cold

Fancy Cakes

Pain

Teabag

The Jolly Sailor

Shopping

My Life as a Pair of Crocs

The Extra-large Crab Sandwich

The Sea

On the Beach

Kindness

Trolley

Dinner

Piglets

The Surgeon’s Ring

Walking Back to Happiness

Sadness

Hollyhock

Chihuahuas

God

The Brunette

The Tea Is Never Hot Enough

Teddy

Chickens

Pink-and-white Fairy-cakes

Furniture

Semolina

Buttered Toast

The Warmth of the Knife

Teapot

Sand

Midge

Cupcake

Every Time He Hurts Me I Tell Myself

The Man Who Never Smiles

Chocolate Pudding

His Mother’s Dog

Table

Poodle

The Buffalo

Bucket

What We Need to Think About

Hand

Corridor

The Smile

Solutions

Photographs of Women with Straight Hair

Ammonia

In Giant Shorts

The Plan

Him and Me

The Currant Bun

A Person