For years, the fiercely independent Scottish writer Sean Rafferty has been championed by Nicholas Johnson, Ted Hughes, and other well-known British poets, finally resulting in this definitive publication of his poems. The poems of Sean Rafferty, indifferent to fashion and almost if not completely unrecognized during his lifetime, have the distinction of being increasingly appreciated as among the most enduring written during the middle years of this century. --Gael Turnbull