Aten and his illnesses and anxieties. There is charm, tension and glamour, as well as some fine comedy, which includes Nefertiti hobbling around in a pair of fashionable but crippling sandals. There is the imagery we would expect, but the cat is a galumphing hunter, the cobra is a lopsided crown on the old king's head, the ibis shits and hippos roll. Akhenaten is consumed by his god, even though he lashes out against superstition. In him, Porter has found an intriguing subject and put her unconventional choice of form to good use.
Many people write a poem at some point, usually at a time of upheaval.
Time to Kill Sparrows is an anthology of poems by diplomats and their families, and it is the nature of their particular kind of upheaval that gives this book its interest. There is wit, irony and real relish for the places in which they find themselves, but one senses that there may be more interesting poems hidden away in which they really let rip. It has a parochial nature, indicative of the cushioned and contained, albeit global, community of the British diplomatic corps, and should sell well among them. Yet some of the contributors have been published and won awards. Both give the impression of being out of touch, which must be a fundamental sensation in that kind of life.