Anne Stevenson

The way you say the world is what you get. What’s more, you haven’t time to change or choose. The words swim out to pin you in their net

Before you guess you’re in the TV set Lit up and sizzling with unfriendly news. The mind’s machine – and you invented it –

Grinds out the formulae you have to fit, The ritual syllables you need to use To charm the world...

              He was an economist               so he believed in growth. ‘You can’t have economics without growth.’               The word ‘development’...

A memory kissed my mind   and its courtesy hurt me On an ancient immaculate lawn   in an English county you declared love, but from politesse   didn’t inform me that the fine hairs shadowing my lip   were a charge against me.

Your hair was gods’ gold, curled,   and your cricketer’s body tanned – as mine never...