It's a really big book,* Alan, in every sense of "big" — and I congratulate you on it ... I can feel youliving and hear you speaking in every poem — that incomparable eye for an image, and tone of
voice for a very special personal music. But mere words cannot express admiration enough. I
just read and read, happy to hear your very own voice, grown a good deal more confident with the
years... — James Kirkup
You most definitely have a poet's eye and poet's sense of pared-down, effective and honed lan-
guage. And something better than that: an original way of looking at things, a capacity for thought
and consideration... — Elizabeth Smither