This is Penelope Shuttle's first book of verse since Adventures with my Horse in 1988. The title poem, `Taxing the Rain', introduces a new, gently ironic, political note to a collection otherwise full of work more usually identifiable with this author: outspoken love poems; poems about children and animals in real life and dreams. Humour and passion are not always compatible, but here, Penelope Shuttle has achieved a unique mixture. This book is intended for readers of poetry, especially women readers. Sixth-formers, undergraduates.