The Robson poetry list began in 1973 with a series of Poetry Annuals, which led to the publishing of such poets as Vernon Scannell and John Smith - both of whom have had Poetry Book Society 'Choices' - as well as autobiographical works by Scannell, Dannie Abse, Charles Causley and Robert Frost. Robson Books also has on its backlist critical books on poets and poetry, including Professor Joseph Cohen's acclaimed biography of the First World War poet, Isaac Rosenberg, Journey to the Trenches, and Daniel Hoffman's study of Edgar Allan Poe.

This Spring Robson Books publish Vernon Scannell's new collection, Funeral Games and, in a very different vein, Fluffy Dice, a first collection by Nigel Forde, whose weekly appearances on the BBC 'Midweek' programme have won a wide following for his witty and acerbic verse.
JEREMY ROBSON
 
VERNON SCANNELL
Funeral Games

The slow, black bell seems still to nod, its shadow
Trembles in the gloom, a musky perfume
Faint in the ear and mingling with the sweet
Blue smoky exequies and far receding chop
Of plodding hooves as she again goes in
Through their familiar door and moves inside
The still shocked house. She visits each dazed room
Leaving till last his favourite one - his books,
So many, everywhere, as if, progenitive,
They multiplied and spilled from shelves and chairs;
The recorded Brandenburgs, the piano-lid
...