Ode to Didcot Power Station

By Kit Wright

Few English poets have quite Kit Wright's range. From heart-felt lyricism to blistering satire, from the ribald to the grief-stricken, his poems cover almost everything life can throw at anyone, quite literally from the sublime to the ridiculous. Entertaining and engaging, writing with wit, panache and dazzling virtuosity, Kit Wright is both a seriously funny poet and a poignant chronicler of our times. His latest collection, published on his 70th birthday, shows him young at heart and writing, as always, from the heart of England. 'A witty, brilliantly varied collection.' - Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday [on Ode to Didcot Power Station]. 'Sublime' Kit Wright, one of the best poets writing in Britain today.' - Carol Ann Duffy, Guardian. 'As a poet he simply has more bounce per ounce.' - Patricia Beer, TLS. 'Funny and profoundly human.' - Christina Patterson, Sunday Times. 'His poetry is profoundly English in its combining of jaunty rhythms, comic rhymes'with subject-matter that is frequently bleak, blackly funny, and grimly personal. Bereavement, breakdown, failure (particularly in love), the "tears and terrors" or the quiet desperation beneath the surfaces of ordinary English life, a recurring note of grief or sympathy for victims and underdogs - and a persistent strain of remorse and self-reproach' these are fairly constant in Wright's work, but so are the metrical ingenuity, the levity, and verbal panache.' - Alan Jenkins, Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry. 'He has formal virtuosity which is often comic; rumbustious, ribald, benign. But through all this work there is that poignancy, darkness, brush with despair which makes great comic work.' - Ruth Padel, Independent on Sunday. 'Masterly yet modest.' - Sean O'Brien, TLS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780372372

Book preview

KIT WRIGHT

ODE TO DIDCOT POWER STATION

Few English poets have quite Kit Wright’s range. From heart-felt lyricism to blistering satire, from the ribald to the grief-stricken, his poems cover almost everything life can throw at anyone, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Entertaining and engaging, Kit Wright is both a seriously funny poet and a poignant chronicler of our times. His latest collection, published on his 70th birthday, shows him young at heart and writing, as always, from the heart of England.

‘Sublime… Kit Wright, one of the best poets writing in Britain today’ – Carol Ann Duffy, Guardian.

‘As a poet he simply has more bounce per ounce’ – Patricia Beer, TLS.

‘His poetry is profoundly English in its combining of jaunty rhythms, comic rhymes…with subject-matter that is frequently bleak, blackly funny, and grimly personal. Bereavement, breakdown, failure… the tears and terrors or the quiet desperation beneath the surfaces of ordinary English life, a recurring note of grief or sympathy for victims and underdogs – and a persistent strain of remorse and self-reproach… these are fairly constant in Wright’s work, but so are the metrical ingenuity, the levity, and verbal panache’ – Alan Jenkins,

Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry.

‘He has formal virtuosity which is often comic; rumbustious, ribald, benign. But through all this work there is that poignancy, darkness, brush with despair which makes great comic work’ – Ruth Padel,

Independent on Sunday.

COVER PAINTING

Didcot Power Station (2006) by John Stephen

www.carabus.demon.co.uk

ODE TO DIDCOT

POWER STATION

KIT WRIGHT

CONTENTS

Title Page

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Metal

That Was the Summer

A Word from a Small Figure in a Strict Drawing

Lament for Stinie Morrison

The Plague Horses

A Travelling Song for Sam Johnson

Littlebredy

Ode to Didcot Power Station

Animula

Oratory

Watching the Wireless

There Was a Ship, Quoth He

The Year Nijinsky Won the Triple Crown

A Man of Mynton

Ornamental Waters

Birthday Poem for Vernon Scannell

Birthday Poem for Posy Simmonds

Birthday Poem for Gerda

TALKING TO THE WEEDS

Long Purples 1

Long Purples 2

Oxford Ragwort

Star of Bethlehem

Hedge Mustard

Rosebay Willowherb

Ivy

Large Bindweed

Hop

Honesty

Periwinkle

Germander Speedwell

Fat Hen

A Likeness

Alexanders

Cleavers

Notes to Talking to the Weeds

The Spiritus Loci Has Provided Vers Noir in Your Room

Beak

London Stars

The Walk of a Friend

Cold Harbor

Cranes in the Middle Distance

A Kite’s Dinner

Stabat Mater

Carol: When Man Anthropomorphic

Between Bangs: A Jig

Blemish

The Roller in the Woods

The Song of the Old Club Bag

As a Hiding Place from the Wind and a Covert from the Tempest

In Memory of a Jeweller

Ricole

Ode to Colonel Hearne

A Dedication Restored from 1860

Quilp Rock

A LISBON SHEAF

Ceremony

The English Connection

Tram Lines

Two Children

A Summit

Hero

On a Rood-Screen in Worstead, Norfolk

A Song of Surfaces

A Statue of Fernando Pessoa

Fado

Notes to A Lisbon Sheaf

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