Life Lines: Poets For Oxfam

by Various Authors

This was the only non-second hand CD I ever bought from Oxfam, back in 2006. I’ve been coming back to it ever since.

There are poems OK, good and brilliant. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of vers libre, so I tend to skip those, except perhaps of Look at These by Helen Farish. My absolute favourites are Sexy at Sixty by Pam Ayres, No Ball Games by Sophie Hannah, No Ball Games, and that ultimate pièce de résistance by John Hegley with Keith Moore on tuba: St George’s Day.

Life Lines: Poets For Oxfam Dannie Abse, The Stethoscope Fleur Adcock, A Rose Tree Patience Agbabi, Countdown to Zero Al Alvarez, Anne Dancing Simon Armitage, Two Clocks Pam Ayres, Sexy at Sixty Sebastian Barker, The Walkway Charles Bennett, A Woman Made of Bees Ashok Bery, A Very Short History of British India Alan Brownjohn, Talking Animals Melanie Challenger, Limb Polly Clark, Hedgehog Olivia Cole, Breaking the Ice Wendy Cope, Spared Tim Cumming, The Knowledge Charlie Dark, Airborne Isobel Dixon, And Carol Ann Duffy, Prayer Ian Duhig, From the Irish Frank Dullaghan, Man On The Moon Helen Farish, Look at These Peter Finch, Ben Lomond Annie Freud, Canaletto Orange Anne-Marie Fyfe, Signallings Giles Goodland, Corrections Lavinia Greenlaw, Spirit of the Staircase Sophie Hannah, No Ball Games, etc. David Harsent, Toffee John Hegley, St George’s Day Kevin Higgins, A Brief History of Those Who Made Their Point Politely and Then Went Home Alan Jenkins, Inheritance Mimi Khalvati, Ghazal after Hafez Nick Laird, Cuttings Roddy Lumsden, My True love Chris McCabe, Axis of Evil Roger McGough, Half Term Jamie McKendrick, Ancient History Lachlan Mackinnon, Marfa, Texas Adrian Mitchell, Human Esther Morgan, Bone China Andrew Motion, Anne Frank Huis Daljit Nagra, Darling and Me Cath Nichols, Corona Eric Ormsby, My Mother in Old Age Ruth Padel, Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool Pascale Petit, Self Portrait with Fire Ants Mario Petrucci, On the Onset of Tinnitus Clare Pollard, A London Plane Tree Peter Porter, Chorus At The End Of The First Act Sally Read, Mastectomy Denise Riley, Shatung Maurice Riordan, The January Birds Henry Shukman, Piano Solo George Szirtes, Water Jo Shapcott, Of Mutability Owen Sheers, Not Yet My Mother John Siddique, Cheap Moisturizer John Stammers, Mary Bruton Greta Stoddart, You Drew Breath Liane Strauss, Ça ce n’est pas Todd Swift, Lost at Austerlitz Heather Taylor, Trouble Tim Turnbull, New Romantic Jonathan Ward, Anna and the Swan John Welch, Taking Refuge Jackie Wells, Only a 9-Year-Old Briar Wood, Tent Tamar Yoseloff, Barnard’s Star Benjamin Zephaniah, A Picture of a Sign