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      Incantations for Warriors

                  by Alistair Paterson

                            with 21 drawings

                     by Roy Dalgarno

A book for the collector. A few copies still remain of this classic limited edition of 500 signed and numbered copies.

Twenty-three poems by Alistair Paterson with 21 drawings by Roy Dalgarno.

2   Complaint

I carry a grudge that sits in my stomach
like an ulcer - a canker:
                      the smiling face of suburban afternoons
                              - temperate, bland, reasonable –
that pays all its debts & never a cent
(not one cent) more: plainly
                        somebody of distinction, importance -
                       sensible, well-heeled & with enough cash
to play the horses, risk on stocks & shares
a dabbler in old prints, fine art
                                    dreaming she dines with Caesar

or if not Caesar, then Pharaoh's daughter
- their whispering acolytes - anyone
              with sufficient knowledge of who knows who
                              & what the butler would have said
if there had been a butler. . .
I recall her windows opened to the south
                            an afternoon when burnt-out candles
                                 gave the game away & half asleep
she protested my indifference:
why is it that we all believe
                                    the things we say & do are just?

TITLE               Incantations for Warriors
AUTHOR         Alistair Paterson
ARTIST            Roy Dalgarno
PUBLISHED    1987
CATEGORY    Poetry and Drawings
FORMAT         Paperback
EXTENT           27x19 cm, 55 pages
ISBN                1-86942-010-1
PRICE               NZ  $25

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