[Nigel Mace]

As this wonderful thread has developed I've been struck by how it has yet to recognise one of the most publicly widespread means by which poetry has made connections with its public in the 20th century - song, and the poetry movements which were associated with it. For many that was where their verse remained but for a number it also led to some slender volumes which, to me, stood out as memorable moments in my reading of poetry. Prime among those, for me, were the poems of Fran Landesman and especially in this collection which tacks between large scale politics and the politics of the personal, between love and its disappointments with eloquence and almost unbearable poignancy. There are weaker pieces, of course, - even slipshod ones too 'easy' in their drive and thus too pale to gain traction - and there are ones I can never forget. So let me pitch for this haunting little book and the gems like "The Grooves of Change", "Make Lemonade", "The Artist v. Death", "Missed Understandings", "Semi-Detached" and, perhaps especially, the bitter sweet "The Early Winds of Morning" and the joyfully ecstatic "Come With Me" which never fails to move me with its absolute affirmation of shared love. The other books also have their charms - perhaps most of all in "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" - but this is, to me, the gem.