Rich

Rich (1984) by Craig Raine – Faber and Faber – ISBN 0571133088 – Condition: Good

Rich by Craig Raine is the sort of book that reminds you that poetry does not necessarily have to sit quietly in a meadow contemplating a daffodil. It can poke things, turn them upside down, peer at them from inconvenient angles and occasionally make perfectly ordinary objects seem as though they have just arrived on Earth and are being described by someone who has never seen a kettle before.

Published by Faber and Faber in 1984, Rich comes from Craig Raine, one of the poets most closely associated with the wonderfully named “Martian” school of poetry. This did not, disappointingly, involve green men, flying saucers or government cover-ups in Wiltshire. Instead, it involved looking at familiar things as though they were completely unfamiliar — taking everyday life, shaking it vigorously, and seeing what falls out.

The result is poetry full of strange perspectives, sharp images and those little moments when a sentence makes you stop and think, “Yes, that is actually a very peculiar way of describing that,” shortly before realising that it is also rather accurate.

Raine’s poetry has an observational quality that can make the ordinary seem exotic and the exotic strangely ordinary. Bodies, buildings, objects, relationships and bits of modern life are examined with the mildly suspicious attention of someone who has been told that everything around him is perfectly normal but has decided to check for himself.

This is therefore not necessarily a book for anyone who believes poetry should always rhyme, contain a skylark and end with somebody gazing wistfully across a valley. It is much more suited to readers who enjoy language being made to work for its living.

There is wit here, but it is not joke-book wit. There is intelligence, but thankfully the book does not arrive with a lecturer attached. Instead, Rich has the slightly mischievous quality of poetry that keeps shifting the furniture around inside your head while insisting that it has touched nothing.

And because this is a 1984 Faber poetry collection, it also has that pleasingly serious literary appearance which allows you to leave it somewhere prominent and give visitors the impression that you spend your evenings discussing metaphor rather than watching television and eating biscuits.

This copy is in Good condition, with some light fading to the spine and cover. In other words, the years have gently introduced themselves, but have not staged a coup. It remains a perfectly respectable reading copy and, at more than forty years old, has earned the right to look slightly less vivid than it did during the miners’ strike.

Ideal for admirers of Craig Raine, collectors of Faber poetry, readers interested in modern British poetry, or anyone who likes writers who can take something completely commonplace and make it seem briefly, wonderfully peculiar.

Another literary survivor from Crappy Old Books — because sometimes being Rich merely means owning a second-hand book of poetry from 1984 and having enough money left over for tea.

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