Refuge

Michael Tolkien was born in Birmingham in 1943, and brought up in rural south

Oxfordshire and North Yorkshire. He studied Classics and English at St.

Andrews and Oxford, and worked as a secondary school teacher in Rutland. 'He

has an adroit eye and ear for descriptions of place. The collection's title

poem illustrates his range when he recalls a visit to Castle Howard...Much for

me to ponder, enjoy and remember' (Martin Bax: Ambit 199). '...His best

poems...do something both original and informed by the tradition he loves:

they are visually and aurally satisfying...there are unmissable poems in each

of his collections...But for the moment, here is 'No Time for Roses', a book

that uniquely celebrates absences, a book for which good reads - hundreds of

them - should make time' (Helena Nelson: Poetry Salzburg Review. 17, Spring

2010). His 'Leaning Not to Touch' was runner-up in Redbeck's 1996 collection

competition. In 1998 he was a New Voice in the East Midlands Arts reading

tour. 'Reaching for a Stranger' was published by Shoestring Press in 1999. In

2000 Redbeck published his first full collection, 'Outstripping Gravity',

following by 'Exposures' (2003) and 'Taking Cover' (2005). In 2000 Poetry

Salzburg published 'No Time for Roses'. 'Refuge' (2012) suggests there are

many kinds of search for sanctuary. In Part 1 characters or objects reveal

this in their unique identity. Part 2 ('Cloister and Promenade') is more

comic, even satirical about how dubious kinds of stability or identity are

achieved. Part 3 looks at specific refuges. Part 4 explores attempts to find

security by identifying with surroundings and those who are close to us.