Julian Stannard's third collection is The Parrots of Villa Gruber Discover Lapis Lazuli (Salmon, 2011), which includes the three poems featured here and completes a trilogy of works about the city of Genoa and its environs. Having taught at the University of Genoa for many years, he now teaches creative writing and English at the University of Winchester (UK). His work appears in the TLS, The Spectator, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Ambit, Guardian, PN Review, Poetry Wales, Resine (Italy), and Nuova Corrente (Italy). He is the author of The Poetic Achievements of Donald Davie and Charles Tomlinson: Expanding Vision, Voice and Rhythm in Late Twentieth-Century English Poetry (Edwin Mellen Press, 2010). He won the Troubadour Poetry Prize in 2010. Copyright © 2011 by Julian Stannard