91Èȱ¬

Ian McMillan's guests are George Szirtes, Cecilia Knapp, Lisa Knapp, Gerry Diver and Rishi Dastidar.

The beauty of a swimming pool seen from the air, banks that fly up and out of small towns never to return, the poetry of single objects seen from a train window, and the miniature brilliance of poetry pamphlets - all in this week's edition of The Verb.

It can be a shock when banks leave our high streets - poet George Szirtes presents a brand new commission for The Verb inspired by that experience, and reads work from his 2004 collection 'Reel' which won the TS Eliot Prize. George has just been awarded the 'King's Gold Medal' for excellence in poetry.

Cecilia Knapp finds surprising images for memories of being a teenager in new poetry on this week's show. Cecilia's first collection is 'Peach Pig' - she has published a novel called 'Little Boxes', and is Poet-in-Residence for London’s City Bridge Foundation.

We look out of train windows, in a new song by Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver ( from a new album called 'Hinterland'). Gerry has arranged music for films – and in his ground-breaking album 'The Speech Project' he created scores for the remarkable speakers including Christy Moore, the boxer Barry McGuigan and the singer Charlotte Church. Lisa Knapp has been nominated for the 91Èȱ¬ folk awards multiple times - her recent performances on the 'Hack Poets Guild' album 'Blackletter Garland' were described as 'expert' and 'ethereal'. Gerry, Lisa and their daughter Bonnie Diver perform live in the studio.

Rishi Dastidar shares the joy of small collections - as he celebrates poetry pamphlets with Ian - exploring their appeal and their potential. Rishi is a poet, critic and copywriter. His latest collection is 'Neptune's Projects' described by one reviewer as 'add(ing) wit, postmodern panache and mythic irony to the tradition of the open sea'