Peter Reading, The Prison Cell

Reading has said, “In spite of the fact that the poems are about love, I trust that I have been sensible, throughout the volume, of Auden’s cautionary words, inasmuch as I have earnestly endeavoured to avoid the difficulties which attend this somewhat thorny topic. What is said in a poem is not necessarily journalistically accurate, though it aims, of course, at being the truth. Lying about people and events, then, can be a most useful poetic device though it enrages and estranges acquaintances by the dozen.”