MAL FOSTER : a poet of the ordinary man

Poet's Portrayal - 1976

Unfortunately not even I have a copy of my own first title. 100 copies were printed in an A4 format. The cover photograph was taken outside Galini's Coffee Lounge, in Camberley, Surrey by Jenny Slaughter in 1976 with a 'Back Street Crawler' poster in the background - remember them ?

If anyone out there does have a copy I could at least borrow - please let me know.

Calculated Suicides -1979

The cover photograph on the first print run of 150 was taken by Chris Saunders at Virgina Water. A second print run without cover photo of 100 was also produced.

Poems: Alone In It - For Fiona - The Grey Days - Harbour Of Thought - Fruit - Saturday 28th - With You, Martine In Paris, 1975 - Dawn Movement - Mind Crossing - Love Of Sorts - Each Love Or So-Called Love - For Nadine - Central Line - Set Piece - Lines From A Room - Tonight Beneath The City Lights - Final Warning - February Eleven 1979 - 'Me' - There Was This Girl - Summer Match - Gulls - The Perfect Setting

Last of the Rampant Heroes - 1983

My wonderful girlfriend at the time, Amanda Luscombe lent me the money to help finance publication from her student's grant. Something I have felt guilty about ever since. The cover design was by local artist Keith Fraser with a photograph of 'yours truly' on the back cover taken by my good friend Jonathan Webster, at the Park Court Hotel in Bayswater, London.

Poems : Hide And Seek - ...and thru the mist - A Short Time Beside You - Nightlines - Some Kind Of Hero - Carnival - Campus - Morning Apathy - The Wedding - First Sign Of Madness - Urban Dawn - High Up Thing - Sea Fishing - Modern Ghosts - The 'Game' - Preconception - Ex - Nancy - End Of An Era - At The Wine Bar - Platform 8 Victoria

Maelstrom - 1985

The title poem, my longest ever, was later published on its own in another volume, 'One Last Live Gig' in 1997. Maelstrom itself was written on a single train journey and just flowed and flowed - for some reason its the one all the students like - probably because it goes all over the place. A rare recording also exists with music from Leviathan's Paul Wells.

Poems : Maelstrom #1 - The Asylum Prince - Flowers For Lisa - A Sense Of Loss Relieved - Something I Wrote - Blue Monday - The Consequence Of Revolution - Inquiry Into My Own Sadism - The Outcast - City Portraits - Dawn Exit - The Cafe - City Street Song - The Refuge - Farnham (An Observation) - I Commend Your Patience - Autumn Parting - The Girl Addict - Mushrooms (Taste Of Fear) - After The Wine - Maelstrom #2

Points of Circumstance - 1989

A small collection of poems from previous volumes, put together in order to raise money for victims of the Clapham Rail crash of 08 December 1988. 

An introduction to a lesser known English poet - 1990

This volume included a selection of my best poems as well as a number of unpublished works. The photo on the rear cover was by Estelle Blackwell who had just modelled in The Sun newspaper. Estelle now a renowned Psychic Medium later married successful and popular artist Jonathan Webster in 1993.

Poems: Maelstrom (Version) - A Sense Of Loss Relieved - Platform 8 Victoria - Whatever It Was - Nightlines - Preconception - High Up Thing - Shindig On Giro Junction - Summer Match - Road To Mdina - Incident In Valletta - A Sunken Curiosity - A Merciless Battleground - At The Wine Bar - Set Piece - Farnham (An Observation) - A Consequence Of Revolution - The Wedding - I Commend Your Patience - Sea Shanty - Sea Fishing - Points Of Circumstance - Unfinished Building - Dawn Exit - Ghost Of My Grandfather - The Rose - The Partisan - Mushrooms (Taste Of Tear) - Maelstrom (Extract) - Autumn Parting - ... and thru the mist - Fruit - Changing The World - The Anniversary - There Was This Girl - The Girl Addict - For Jeannette - Tugging At Strings - The Scarecrow - Blue Monday - Big Brother - Everything Has Gone - Girl On The Bus - Something I Wrote - The Child Star - End Of An Era

Welcome to the Resurrection - 1993

Non-Poetry. This book is about Aldershot Town Football Club's first season in non-league football, following their demise as a league club in March 1992. Ironically, my best selling booklet to date. The booklet includes an introduction from the club's secretary Graham Brookland and former Shots' hero Mark Butler. Photographs were by famous local sports photographer Ian Morsman with other material supplied by Mark Walker. 

Re-Invented - 2004

My first new booklet for awhile, mainly because of my encroachment onto the internet. The cover photograph (left) is by Karen Saunders. The booklet was inspired by a visit from my Uncle Reg from New Zealand following the death of my mother on 27 March 2004.

Poems : A Bastard's Lament - A Summer Of Adolescence - Preconception - Platform 8 Victoria - For My Brother - Ghost Of My Grandfather - Portwrinkle - Sea Shanty - The Girl Addict - Morality - Peep Show - The Wedding - The Anniversary - Banrock Station Blues - Cohen's Marianne - The Adulterous Wife Of Jeremy - Something I Wrote - I Remember You - The Mirror - 1964 - Victim - Going Missing - Stripper - Bereavement - Gypsy's Warning - Internal Traveller