----> news

Two poems, 'Shadows on the Barley' and 'The Commons', have been added to the website.

The former is up by popular demand (!), having been given a good reception when read at the Three Blind Mice in Shoreditch.

The latter was written two years ago after a visit into the House of Commons chamber. It's an appraisal of the building itself, rather than of those members who sit in it!

more comments . . .

[2010-01-22]

Bedford Square 3
An anthology of new writing from Royal Holloway including poetry by Robert Selby is available for purchase at amazon.co.uk

The unauthorised use of any work without permission from the author is strictly prohibited

----> sample of work

When our train goes over the river
sending all the bridge bats aquiver
into the pink evening;
when the poplar's shadow on the barley
is not wanting for company
and the castle turret is gleaming,

it is time for that part of the day,
a few hours at least, that we can say
are ours. The train slows down
into the freedom beyond the tunnel,
into the redbrick commuter town
where we can peel off our office flannel,

excited like kids home from school,
flinging windows wide, excitable
for the kettle's click, the shower,
for the can's nozzle in every flower;
then you, in your PJs already,
post-shower bob a glorious melee,

feet up on the kitchen table reading
the newspaper you didn't get to
on the morning train because, again,
we had slumped together in sleep,
in a jerking, dribbling heap,
dreaming of shadows on the barley.

[Shadows on the Barley]