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Poem of the Week: ‘Smethwick’ by Michael Hofmann

31 August 2026

Our poem of the week is ‘Smethwick’ by Michael Hofmann, from One Lark, One Horse.

Highly anticipated, this is the first new collection of poems in nearly twenty years from German-born poet, essayist and translator.

Michael Hofmann is renowned as one of our most brilliant critics and translators; that he is also regarded as among our most respected poets – ‘one of the definitive bodies of work of the last half-century’, TLS – is all the more impressive for his relatively concentrated output. One Lark, One Horse will be his fifth collection of poems since his debut in 1983, and his first since Approximately Nowhere in 1999. But it is also one of the most anticipated gatherings of new work in years. In style, it is as unmistakable as ever: sometimes funny, sometimes caustic; world-facing and yet intimate; and shows a bright mind burning fiercely over the European imagination. Approaching his sixtieth birthday, the poet explores where he finds himself, geographically and in life, treating with wit and compassion such universal themes as ageing and memory, place, and the difficulty for the individual to exist at all in an ever bigger and more bestial world.

One Lark, One Horse is a remarkable assembly of work that will delight loyal readers and enchant new ones with its approachable, companionable voice.

Smethwick ‘What changed? Same maisonette in West London, the straight shot of Talbot Road, held onto in spite of everything – one’s original intended went away, someone else eventuated – riding to work on the Tube like an Edwardian, same job, steady Eddie, not “a new kind of tobacco at eleven”, and “my love returning on the four o’clock bus”, more “cut out the ciggies” and a new palliness. Hamlet for yonks, kicked upstairs, Prospero under this bonkers management.’

Copyright © Michael Hofmann, 2018. Used by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd. All rights reserved.

Read all our poems of the week.

Buy the Book

Michael Hofmann
£14.99

Highly anticipated, this is the first new collection of poems in nearly twenty years from German-born poet, essayist and translator.