DAMIAN GRANT

Mining

19

When I dream now and you are in my dream it is like mining a bitter metal alone down a blind shaft . . . and the commanding image takes me back to once, in Wiltshire, years ago

at the entrance to a deserted mine that tilted like a nightmare into the darkness; the rails had rusted, the corrugated roof let fall its iron flakes

the chipped enamel Danger sign and went in step by step and shivered, down towards the ghost I knew was there, that came to me out of the dripping scrapyard dark as if it had been waiting for me

'come back, come back' and like a coward I turned round and never met him

when I forge down into the iron dark towards that ghost

we stood

but I ignored

then you called

until now,

and you say nothing.

20 Critical Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1

MERWN PEAKE, Twelve Poems 1939-1960. Bran's Head Books Ltd, 45 Milk Street, Frome, Somerset. €10.00.

This large-format paperback brings together twelve short poems and nine drawings, all otherwise unavailable. As often elsewhere the ideas of the serious and introspective poems are not always fully worked out, which enables us to follow Peake's creative processes more easily. The sombre drawings in various media - figures and fantastic faces - are perhaps the most memorable part of the book. This beautifully-produced limited edition (hence the high price) is a desirable item for Peake devotees.

Reproduced below is 'The Duchess took her choice, and was gone in a moment,' from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, now reissued as a handsome omnibus by Methuen (€5.50). Not Peake's best set of illustrations, but lively and amusing. ( J . R . B . )