The People's Favourite Poems: Out and about with Kipling, Larkin and the rest - Hardcover

'Dexter's gift is actually to shed light on the mysteries of literary creation'
GUARDIAN

'Dexter knows the nation's tastes better than anyone'
DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Delightful... There are a few books that try to be funny about literature and don't ever really get it right; Dexter always does. He has a gift for the right kind of anecdote'
Nick Lezard

'Dexter couldn't write a phoney sentence if he tried'
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'Any lover of literature will delight in this book'
IRISH TIMES on Why not Catch-21? --...

A unique and beautifully illustrated anthology of the poems that matter most to people, from Kipling's 'If-' to Hopkins' 'Pied Beauty'
When a mystery eye condition made looking at a screen impossible, author Gary Dexter had to rethink how to earn a living. His solution? Learn 100s of famous poems then hit the streets, approaching passers-by and offering to recite their favourite for cash.
His new calling soon drags him far beyond his comfort zone. A woman orders him to 'sway like a daffodil' as he performs Wordsworth's floral classic; a security guard marches him out of Primark while he defiantly intones Invictus ('I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL'); a drunk soldier mourning a fallen comrade in Afghanistan requests Auden's 'Funeral Blues' but turns nasty when the nervous performer fluffs a line.
In a series of remarkable, eye-opening encounters, Dexter finds out which poems people really love, and why. The result is an authentic, funny and original twist on a familiar format -- a poetry collection for our times.