OXFORD POETS 2007

ed. David Constantine and Bernard O'Donoghue (Carcanet, £12.95)

This is the fifth anthology in this series and contains 17 poets. Twelve are women, several have Oxford connections, some are from Ireland and one, Adam Hansen, has Serbian roots.

They are mostly unknown to me, but I much prefer some of the poems here to certain anthology pieces by big names.

The book opens with Jemma Borg's The Mathematician, where a scholar stares out into the bewildering snow. There are excellent "cold" poems, too, by Hugh Dunkerley, Olivia McCannon and Lynne Wycherley, who is well-known in Oxford reading circles, and writes about fens, Bewick swans and blinding northern light.

Two women whose families were caught up in the two great wars write about their ancestors. Miriam Obrey's The Bullet describes how her grandfather just survived (or where would she have been?), and Sue Leigh contributes a lovely poem, September 1940, which ends: "He fell out of the sky while she was picking apples."

One of the hardest tests for a poet is whether he or she can write in rhyme without sounding like a card from W.H. Smith.

Three of the very best of these poems are traditional in form - Kieron Winn's Waters and Frances Thompson's Matthew Godwin in Exeter Cathedral, a song for a medieval boy musician.

My favourite of all, perhaps, is John White's The Gentler Engine, which is about a heart specialist gradually losing his hearing, and therefore his ability to work.

If you like poetry, ancient or modern, read this book. You will not be disappointed.

The two poets will read from their own work at Cheney School, Oxford, from 8-9.30pm on March 15, in aid of Friends of Warneford Meadow. Contact Sietske Boeles, 108 Southfield Road (Tel:728153) or email FOWM@btinternet.com for further details.

On April 2, Bernard O'Donoghue will read from his own work at the Oxford Literary Festival in a joint event with Tom Paulin and Jamie McKendrick. Merryn Williams