Cool, calm and collected

George Szirtes remembers Martin Bell whom he met as a student and his poems that glitter with laughter and desire

- George Szirtes

The only book Martin Bell published in his lifetime was his Collected Poems, a hardback between mustard-coloured paper covers with a wood engraving showing a contemplative puritan poet. There was nothing else until 10 years after his death when, in 1988, Bloodaxe published the Complete Poems, edited by Peter Porter.

It is unusual to publish nothing but your