ONE of the poems in Oz Hardwick's new book is entitled simply "!". It was prompted by one of the York poet's favourite road signs, an exclamation mark in a triangle.

The poem depicts in freeze-frame detail the last flashing moment before a crash. Who is about to crash, or why, or even where or how remains a mystery; but that is what Oz likes about this road sign.

"It tells you something awful is going to happen, but doesn't tell you what. Sometimes life is like that."

Oz, who lives in Ogleforth, and works as a lecturer in medieval literature at Leeds University, is carving out a name for himself as an up-and-coming poet. He has had poems published in a number of magazines, including York-based anthologies Dreamcatcher and Aesthetica, and has written a Chaucerian introduction to The York Tales, a collection of short stories by local writers which is to be brought out by local publisher ENDpapers at the beginning of December.

He also wowed audiences at the Edinburgh Festival this summer with readings of his work, a performance that earned him a 5/5 rating from one Edinburgh reviewer.

The Kind Ghosts is his first book. If quality is any measure, it is unlikely to be his last.

The 40 poems in this slim collection have a sparse, at times almost musical quality. They are as rich in observation and sense of life as an elusive dream you can't quite grasp.

Slow Children, for example, one of his favourites, is a poignant account of watching childhood unravel in images on an old Super 8 film. You can almost hear the clacking of the projector as the spool of film comes to its end and begins to spin aimlessly.

Mid-Wales With The Lights Off tells of being driven at night through narrow country lanes in deepest Wales by a man who is either stoned or drunk or both. The branches and hedges looming up suddenly into the headlights as the car weaves along give it a startlingly vivid feel - and there is a beautiful sense of the fragility of life.

Quite a few of the poems touch on travel. There is a reason for that, says Oz. Travel can make you see differently and can reveal the new and startling in the safe and familiar.

At their best, his poems do that too.

The Kind Ghosts by Oz Hardwick is published by bluechrome priced £5.99.

Oz will be reading from his work at Worm Holes bookshop in Bootham, York on Friday at 8pm. Tickets, priced £3.50 (which includes wine and nibbles) from Worm Holes on 01904 620011.

Updated: 09:32 Wednesday, November 10, 2004