Anthony Wilson
Book Story
for Marian Whitehead
Two days before the Christmas vacation
and according to tradition,
he gave out the staff their books.
An annual treat, almost looked forward to
by everybody, not least for the signs
each was able to discern
in their tome of what he thought of them
exactly. Also according to tradition
each year had its own theme -
biography, gardening, the arts -
but never anything ‘difficult’.
He chose with meticulous
care, of that there can be no doubt.
A novel depicting a man grieving
his dead father went one year
to the piano teacher. To the head
of art a collection of short stories,
one of which concerned a woman unable
to leave her lover for the woman
she truly loved. Comparisons were made
in the car park after dark
and from these discussions
a general consensus of unease emerged
over the volume of illustrated fairy tales
found, wrapped but unsigned,
in the nursery teacher’s handbag.
Not a word was said in the building.
Your narrator received a detective
fiction, French, set in the Thirties.
The translation was unspeakable.
It was said his wife worked
for the publisher, so it is likely
he obtained it without paying, I think.
Page(s) 24
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The