If the phrase "love poetry" conjures up images of swooning swains and soppy sonnets for you, this feisty selection of anthems with attitude may help replace them with something altogether more muscular. Aided and abetted by her fellow-poets Helen Kidd, Julia Mishkin and Sandi Russell, Wendy Mulford has assembled a noisy throng of impressively dissimilar voices, from Sappho to Eavan Boland, Emily Bronte to Patti Smith. Some are sardonic, some sad, some angry, some defeated - but not a single one comes across as soppy, thanks to the editors' clever juxtapositions. Their decision to avoid what Mulford calls "any superimposed thematic organisation" is also to be applauded. A book to treasure: and a more acceptable Valentine's Day gift than roses or Rolos, thanks very much. A.W.