Less than a minute is usually the most that is given to works of art encountered on a gallery visit. To extend this fleeting glance, into something more prolonged and reflective, has been the ambition of gallery curators the world over. This ambition was pursued by the Tate Gallery in 1985 when it ran a series of events linking art with poetry. These included a national poetry competition for all ages, poetry workshops for children and adults, and a series of lunchtime readers of their work by many distinguihsed poets.
 
This illustrated anthology of specially commissioned poems, written by more than fifty leading contemporary poets, followed naturally from these events.