Almost

Oliver Reynolds's fourth collection is dominated by love poems, all of them marked by the candour, tenderness, musicality and power to convey strong feeling that are traditionally associated with the genre. Like the French troubadours, however, Reynolds is also an expert in intricate forms, some invented by himself, and a large part of the delight communicated by Almost has to do with watching a rare technician finding new challenges and overcoming them with apparent effortlessness.