It is unfortunate that Velma Pollard's 9 West Indian Poets (Collins, 1980), an anthology of fifty-five poems by "nine of the major figures" in West Indian poetry, should have been subtitled "An Anthology for the CXC English Examination", since such a designation tends to limit the possible wider distribution of the book. Indeed, while one can appreciate Collins' desire to capture part of the CXC market for the book by so advertising it, in a sense such a move is pointless at the moment since the CXC Board has listed 0. R.

The latest poetry book for schools to come off the press from Hodder & Stoughton, this is a welcome addition, and probably the best available so far. It is a handsome book, beautifully printed and laid out (so that most of the poems hold on a single page), with generous margins and with each of the eight sections preceded by a pleasant line drawing by Jennifer Northway, illustrating some scene related to the theme of that section.