The Orchards of Syon

Paperback original. Slim 8vo. 72 pp. Illustrated wraps with pen-and-wash cover drawing by D. H. Lawrence. [U.S. edition by Counterpoint is the only case-bound issue].

Poetry Book Society Choice. 72 numbered poems, each consisting of 24 lines. Being the fourth and final instalment in the author's series that began with Canaan (1996), and continued with The Triumph of Love (1998), and Speech! Speech! (2001). Each a distinct and complete aesthetic statement in its own right, together they form a kind of high-modernist Dantean eclogue in which the landscape of the poet's youth – rural Worcestershire – offers a glimpse of paradise amidst the cacophony of the modern world. "The greatest living poet in the English language." –Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian