Catching Up with History

Simpson's poems are praised for the vivid way they collectively tell an evolving story. His previous books recorded his upbringing in a family of seafarers and gave a witty portrait-of-the-artist as a working class lad at Cambridge. These new poems are also rooted in his formative experiences, but move beyond them into the life he currently lives in Liverpool. He acknowledges his poetry's debt to the inherently poetic qualities of the "Liverpool lingo" note his hilarious Scouse parody of Eliot's 'Prufrock', and 'Gifts of Language'. There are also moving love poems and poems celebrating friendships written with his characteristic wit and tact.