Toys/tricks/trapsIn Christopher Reid's marvellous collection, a schoolboy furtively and thrillingly drops a marble through the top of his desk so that it makes its way in darkness along a complicated chute of books, rulers and rubbish, only to emerge from a hole in the base and be caught deftly in his other hand. The poem is titled 'Homeric' and might serve as a clue to the mood and construction of the collection in general, where the poet, now in his seventies, seeks

and explores the power of what can echo down through generations

There is a legend of a man of many names

alternately helped and hindered by St Mary's

But his latest find is as dangerous as she is essential

Mildred Harnack was twenty-six and living in Germany when she witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party

And will they be able to escape the destructive power mermaids are said to possess

Europe and the United States

the stage was set for a final confrontation

In 'Nuts and Bolts'

Guiding you to over 800 wild swims

For fans of The Silent Patient and The Widow

It is about courage