The weather was inside. / / The branches trembled over the glass as if to apologise; then they thumped and they came in. / / And the trees shook everything off until they were bare and clean. They held on to the ground with their long feet and leant into the gale and back again. / / This wa...

Mark Waldron’s first collection The Brand New Dark is described on his publisher’s website as ‘a book about sex, eyes, eggs, dogs, death and sausages’, which are the six best subjects a book can be about. Shouldn’t someone commission a book of essays called Sex, Eyes, Eggs, Dogs, Death and Sausages?...