Shaking the Persimmon Tree, which contains several prize-winning poems, promises to take you drinking sambuca with Vincent Van Gogh, fly fishing on the Ganges, and rolling naked in the elephant grass. In his new collection Marc Woodward writes of time spent in Italy, India and elsewhere, as well as drawing from the rural environment of his home in Devon, England. These are beautifully crafted, melodic poems which lightly carry their intrinsic darkness. Whilst there are poems about cancer, Covid and loss, these are balanced by poems about love and nature, and often the author's sense of humour shines through, even if at times it's just a glimmer through the back door of a morgue!