Laureate's Block by Tony Harrison

Laureate's Block

Tony Harrison

Experience a fine range of public and private poems in this lively collection of accessible verse from one of Britain's best poets. Enjoy his notorious 'Laureate's Block' in which Harrison refuses the Poet Laureate's job for which he'd been widely tipped. Be moved by his poems to his dying son and be entertained by his musings on global warming in 'Fig on the Tyne'.

Extract

When I heard scientists predict
there'd be apricots and peaches picked
in Britain's South, and pinot noir
where the rhubarb fields of Yorkshire are,
the pithill pinot from lush vines
ripening on demolished mines,
a Rossington viognier
Sheffield shiraz, Grimethorpe gamay,
fancy made a sun-kissed fiction.

from Fig on the Tyne

Parallels
  • Collected Poems by Alexander Pope