Rooted in religion, grounded and earthy, the debut collection from the Poetry Critic for the Sunday Times delivers frank and humorous poems about mortality, desire, and the joys and griefs of fatherhood.

In Dirt Rich, Richardson digs deep into his past: a childhood in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, his ‘hatch / match / dispatch’ duties as a Church of England Parish Priest, and years of work with Archaeological Science in Germany.

These poems deal with the dirt we dish, the mud we sling, the treasure we bury. In this startlingly honest first collection, love is celebrated, loss confronted, and life’s trade-offs presented – do we choose loving or knowing, faith or the void, time or eternity? In coalmines and churchyards and fossil-hunting digs, the hope of resurrection persists. These are poems of personality and beauty, to be learnt by heart and taken to heart.