Bullet of stained glass glancing out of the traffic.
Some trembling cellophane I find at my feet.
Handspan of colours; daubs from the palette of light.
Black honeycomb patter embroidered on wings.
Carnage in October: blue scalds of the dusk.
Somnolent. Extinguished. Jewel of pus on dragonfly snout.
I hold in my hand a crucifix on the Cribwr road.

'Dragonfly'
   

Robert Minhinnick's is amongst the major voices of modern Wales. His Selected Poems draws on six collections published between 1978 and 1994. Several uncollected pieces are also included. The earlier poems are diverse: descriptions of work in heavy industry and delicate 'herbals' (observations of wildlife around the writer's childhood home in Wales) exist side by side. Later poems deal with travel - in Brazil and the United States - and depict the troubled, often terrifying world of schizophrenia.

Selected Poems celebrates the life and characters of a close-knit community - a peopled landscape - then breaks away to consider history and culture from wider perspectives. Powerful images and severe compassion are hallmarks of the work.

ROBERT MINHINNICK, born near Neath in 1952, has published poetry and two collections of essays. His book of essays, Watching the Fire Eater, was Welsh Book of the Year in 1993. He has received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, a John Morgan Award for his prose work and two Arts Council of Wales Literature Prizes. In 1998 he received a Cholomondeley Award. He founded Friends of the Earth Cymru (Wales) in 1984 and has worked as a writer in residence in Canada. He is currently editor of Poetry Wales. His most recent collection of essays Badlands (Seren, 1996).