John Robert Brown, IRON Press

The redoubtable local publishers IRON Press continue to provide a platform for poets who might otherwise have fallen down the back of the settee and in John Robert Brown they have a real gem. As the subheading of this collection indicates, humour is his particular forte and he wields it with dashing aplomb. Using short verse, which gets in and out with the minimum of fuss, he pinpoints universal truths: “His socks too short, / His legs so white, / Crossed legs reveal / An ugly sight.” (Short Socks). He is also given to asking the most pertinent of questions: “The Cormorant perches by the lake / Her wings spread wide for drying. / I wonder why she doesn’t try / to dry wet wings by flying?” He muses on Footwear At The Airport, Button Down Collars and why no one ever writes verse about Nuneaton (except himself, of course). It’s a witty collection, but sharply observed too, which gives the reader plenty of food for thought among all of the laughs.