My friend and long-time walking companion Harry Guest, who has died aged 88, was a prolific and talented poet who produced 14 collections of his work. Harry created dazzling evocations of varied landscapes, woven through with multiple braided narratives. Some of his best work may be found in the Elegies (2018); a favourite poem of mine is On Golden Cap, a celebration of Dorset’s natural beauty, shaded by childhood memories of warfare and by the Aids epidemic.
He also undertook translations from French, German, Spanish and Japanese; a collection of his translated poems, Otherlands, was published in 2017. He translated a volume of Post-War Japanese Poetry, with Lynn Guest and Kajima Shôzô; selected poems by Victor Hugo; and sonnets by Jean Cassou: From a Condemned Cell. He published four novels and a literary guide to Japan.
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