Lapwing, Lark, Linnet…

Chinese Fish

Burning

The Tower of Pisa and the Mudflat Horses

37

38

39

40

from To the God of Rain (2003)

A Futurist Looks at a Dog

45

Laws of Probability

46

Distiller’s Unstable Daughter Explains her Absence from the Class 47 The Deaf School 48 To The God of Rain 50 The Wasps’ Nest 52 Whisky Drinker Considers his Skirmish with Death 55 In Italy (by Match-Light) 56

from The Blood Choir (2006)

For the Seven Hundred and Forty Ninth Species of Barbed Wire 59 Spaniels in a Field of Kale 60 The Blood Choir 61 Loy’s Return 65 The Ailing 66 The Language School 67 The Echoists 69 A Shithouse Reverie 70 Shoe Gazing 71 Why Dunwoody Smashed Every Pane of the Stained Glass Window 72 At Dusk, You Can Hear the Men Calling 73 Ground Bass 74

from Priest Skear (2010)

Riding the Ghostly Velocipede

The Interment

Priest Skear

Stigmata

83

84

85

95

viii

Arcimboldo’s Bulldog