Climb Aboard the Poetry Plane

Best known for his poetry anthologies, Foster's new collection of his own poems shows he has a real way with words. There are poems about families, school and the weather, mixed with more challenging poems about elections in South Africa, the space race and the pressures on athletes to be the best at any price. Foster's deceptively simple approach ensures issue based poems like 'Black Crosses' have a powerful impact on the young reader - 'The hands that stole our lands were white./The hands that forged our cross were white./This slip of paper is white./I could crush it in my fist./My hand trembles/As I make my mark-/A black cross.'