The Valentine Papers

These pages gather the poems and short stories of Richard Valentine Thomas, written over many years and collected here in one place.

The poems tend to be small and closely watched — a remembered orchard, a childhood summer, the quiet comedy of an ordinary day — the sort of moment that slips past unnoticed until it is set down in the right words. The stories roam more widely and enjoy a little mischief: a white elephant tethered in a back garden, and other unlikely visitors to everyday life.

There is no order to follow. Wander in wherever you like, read a few at a time, and take them slowly — they were written that way, and they reward it.