A SWINDON poet will release his second book this week.

Kevin Grant was 74 when he published his debut collection, 'Deeps and Shallows'.

Over the last decade, he’s been inspired to write another book of verse, once again featuring illustrations by his nephew.

The book 'More Deeps and Further Shallows' is split into five sections separated by prose pieces.

The sections focus on world affairs and political issues, personal poems based on his own life, comedic limericks and humorous poems, religious poetry, and adaptations of other works.

Kevin said: “Sometimes poems tumble down your arm at four in the morning and write themselves, but others have been maturing in my head for years and take a long time to get right.

"As a poet, seeing your book on the shelf is a most marvellous feeling and, if you have any belief in your work at all, you have a strong wish to present it.

"This book is better than my first one, I believe - my cousin read through it and chucked out all the rubbish poems.

"I hope I sell enough to print more - a poet who gets a second impression goes to heaven, as they say."

Kevin's collection is being launched at the Athenaeum in London on Thursday.

He added: "I've lived in Swindon, near the town centre, since 2006 and I like it more and more, it's a great town.

"One poem is about the closure of the Woolworths on Regent Street and the windows that were smashed after it shut.

"This description is intertwined with a memory I have of the war where a V2 rocket fell and blew out the windows of another Woolworths near where I used to live.

"Some of the poems are quite weighty but I hope the section with comedic poems makes people laugh.

"I tend to play around with nursery rhymes a lot - for children, they are like the entry gates to literature.

"The illustrations are quite charming and funny- the one on the cover is based on a poem featuring Little Miss Muffett and the Large Hadron Collider."

"One person jokingly asked if I'll make a third book after another ten years,, though I currently have no plans for such a project."