“So vivid…a call out to our elemental relationship with love and nature. Beautiful.”
Willem Dafoe

Through poems by Rob Cowen and paintings by Nick Hayes, The Heeding creates a picture of 2020, a year caught in the grip of history, yet filled with revelatory perspectives close at hand: from a sparrowhawk hunting in a back street, the moon over a town or butterflies massing in a high summer yard, to rememberences of moments that shaped the life of a man as he lies dying. It aims to chronicle the four seasons in a world that is filled with fear and pain but beauty and wonder too.

“So vivid…a call out to our elemental relationship with love and nature. Beautiful.” – Willem Dafoe, actor

‘So powerful, and rich, and true. Every line in The Heeding feels freshly discovered, full of urgency and clarity. This is an exceptionally moving and beautiful book – a real elegy.’ Nick Drake, poet

“Dazzling… a book that will touch many, and be given often: here, take this, you must read this.”
Robert Macfarlane

“Rob Cowen’s poems speak to us all, guiding us through the emotional journey the nation has gone through during the past year, with humour, pathos and forensically sharp portrayals of people and nature at a time like no other. Powerful, moving and brilliant.”
Stephen Moss, author of The Robin