Although best known today as an editor, anthologist and award-winning writer of children’s verse, James Reeves (1909-1978) was also a prolific writer of adult poetry and was hailed by among others Robert Graves, Laura Riding, and Robert Nye as being one of the finest poets alive. In a stunning new selection  of his work published by Greenich Exchange – the first since his death, and edited by John Howlett – Reeves’ poetry can be reappraised as being amongst the most consistent and varied bodies of work of the twentieth century. It masterfully combines straightforward readability with a profound and deeply philosophical way of viewing the world. At its heart lies a poet whose work encompassed satire, elegy, humour, and doubt, yet was always underscored by a profound humanity.

The editor of The High Window is grateful to John Howlett, Gareth Reeves and Greenwich Exchange for permisssion to publish poems …