Author(s): Roy Fisher

Poetry

Birmingham River is Roy Fisher's first book of poems since Poems 1955-1987 , published by OUP in 1988. Including a sequence of `Six Texts for a Film', which provided the basis for an Arts Council film made by Tom Pickard, the collection contains much varied work, and a warmer, more relaxed tone than previous collections. Beginning with the premise that `Birmingham's what I think with', the central group of poems describe `a slow petty river' - two, in fact, as they merged and sank out of sight beneath industrialized Birmingham. A contrasting group of poems commissioned for Ronald King's artist's book with puppets, Anansi Company , give continued evidence of Fisher's anarchic pleasure in identifying the absurd, the self-important, and the politically hypocritical - themes that recur throughout this original collection. This book is intended for readers of contemporary poetry.