Kensington Rhymes by Compton MacKenzie

In these vivid Kensington poems, an ordinary house, a square, and a round pond are transformed through a child's imagination into a whole world of wonder, embarrassment, rivalry, and fear. The speaker moves from family rooms and social rituals to dancing class, parties, and playground games, observing childhood with playful wit and a sharp eye for manners, teasing, and longing. As the collection unfolds, make-believe grows grander: toy ships become epic naval battles, and even small mishaps take on mock-heroic force. Yet the poems also reveal the darker edge of childhood, where moonlight, bad dreams, the dustman, homesickness, bedtime comfort, and imagined burglars all stir unease. Balancing humor with anxiety, these poems capture the intensity with which a child experiences both delight and dread, turning the everyday into a place of comic menace and emotional truth. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.