Top 6 - Martin Mooney

It beats me why Martin Mooney isn't a name seen more often in higher places in the strange little world of poetry. By all means, in recent decades, Northern Ireland has been over-crowding the place with major names but the fact that England might have been under performing is no reason for this fine poet to have been overlooked.

The fact that Blue Lamp Disco was published as long ago as 2003 gives rise to the hope that there might be a new book with us soon. Although that does remind me of the story of when one Oxbridge don asked another when he might hope to see his new book. And the answer was (something like) 'you can hope whenever you like'.

Dimitri Gregorievich Rasputin is a wonderful poem, full of working class spirit and fight, and daring to be longer than is required to fill a page or two. Not very far behind is Painting the Angel, moving and beautifully done. Much, much longer than the usual word quota expected these days is the early poem on Brecht .

I can't leave out the brilliant horse racing/bookies poem, The Cancellation of the Races. Two Pages from a Travel Diary catches the eye and it would be difficult to leave out Anna Akhmatova's Funeral but that is 6 already and I'm not saying I've done him justice at all.