What sort of poems will you find in 'The Rain Stands Tall' by the author of 'The Warp', Neil Oram? Well, covering a period of over fifty years they seem to occupy their own created space. This seems central to Oram's poetics. If it doesn't evoke freshness then pass on (Yes To The Fresh was the title of Oram's last book of poems). How the feeling and knowledge of Yes-ness responds to the sad world of hidden and overt negativity is a major theme to these poems selected by the author. And to the sensitive and discerning reader there is a deep current of humour flowing through the blasts and sonnets and Dustbin Blues. Blasts, Blessings and Blues. Sonnets and feuds. Epics and one-liner-truths. All these expressions are to be found The Rain Stands Tall. It is a large collection amounting to one hundred and eighty poems gleaned from an output stretching well over half a century... but there is no hint of a chronological order. Such a presentation allows each poem to breathe within its own sensitive space outside of daily time. It is quite clear that these poems were never designed to please well-adjusted devotees of the conned-senses-'mind'. Being as they are, these poems have no affinity with any of the cozy, lullaby traditions. Instead they celebrate what it's like being awake to what is. This has frequently meant walking away from the many lures concealing soul-numbing domesticity. Surviving betrayals and one heart-break after another, without blaming or complaining, seems to be a choice-less part of the training to be a real being. Real beings are required to appreciate real poetry.