Yellow Tulips

Winner of both the Queen''s Gold Medal and the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, James Fenton has given readers some of the most memorable lyric verse of the past decades, from the formal skill that marked his debut, Terminal Moraine, to the dramatic and political monologues of The Memory of War and Children in Exile, through to the unforgettable love poems of Out of Danger and his most recent work: Poems is an essential selection by, as Stephen Spender put it, ''a brilliant poet of technical virtuosity''.

Don''t talk to me of love. I''ve had an earful

And I get tearful when I''ve downed a drink or two.

I''m one of your talking wounded.

I''m a hostage. I''m maroonded.

But I''m in Paris with you.

From ''In Paris With You'' by James Fenton