In 2004 I had the bright idea of starting up a poetry imprint for Cordite Poetry Review: Cordite On Demand (or COD). It was a short-lived venture, to say the least, but we did publish two books, and also set up an equally short-lived website.

The second book published by COD was the magnificently barmy covers by nick whittock. Nick, I think it is safe to say, is the wold’s best cricket poet, and a total tragic when it comes to the game. Cordite basically single-handedly kickstarted Nick’s career as a poet and cricket blogger, and I’m proud to this day to have been a supporter his published poetic output.

If OI: poewemz bii tom see (2004) was a challenge, design-wise, then covers was an absolute monster. Nick had very particular ideas about poem placement and line breaks, and it took a lot of back and forth before we got it right.

The book also contains a number of images of ‘sleeping’ cricketers, as well as spectacular cover image, which shows players taking cover as a flying bomb passes overhead during a wartime match at Lords.