Taxing the Rain (Oxford Poets)

In the title poem of this, her ninth collection of verse, Penelope Shuttle introduces a new, gently ironic political note to her work. The remainder of the book is filled with poems more readily identifiable with Shuttle: outspoken love poems (one ruminating on erotic Indian art), poems about children ("Delicious Babies"), and verses concerning animals both in real life and in dreams. As always, her powerful, passionate poetry is spiced with an inviting sense of humor.