Money and Make-Believe

Money and Make-Believe is a frank and probing collection of emblematic poems interspersed with Hughes' responses to the reportage assignments he undertook as a press photographer in the north of England. During these encounters he bore witness to society's victims. For Hughes giving up poverty is like giving up cigarettes an old lady at the police station is left waiting 'like a tap dripping in a darkened room'; and a pre-pubescent girl who has been raped is 'a diminished thing tarnished by the smallest of nouns.' The poems are like isolated mood chambers or broken urns where memory spills out. However the foreboding darker elements are counterpointed by dualistic poetry full of joy beauty and ritualistic defiance where the masks of reality are confronted and positive glimpses of salvation are salvaged.'storm the heavens for an answernurse my body closercupping my hands into yoursbear my spirit further through my bewildermentyour secret faith going back into the nightdown dusty lanes to lie my bodyin the duskiness of our roomover and overwashing your flesh through my aching shores.'extract from Drinking on the Balcony