This poetry comes direct from the cockpit of a modern fighter-bomber. It brings the sparse literature of aerial warfare bang up-to-date, aiming neither to glorify nor to apologise. Knowles' dogged pursuit of himself in the guise of the Jet Man takes us into the aircraft with him, moving us beyond the CNN video-clips of surgical strikes and collateral damage. A twenty-first century reprise of "High Flight" or "The Battle of Britain" this is not. "Meeting the Jet Man" is about a young pilot growing up in thrall to these aviation icons - and following that vision into the heart of the high-tech killing machine that is modern warfare.
David is a former RAF Tornado pilot, a poet, and poetry editor of independent publishing house Two Ravens Press. His first book of poetry, Meeting the Jet Man, was published in October 2008, and was shortlisted for the Scottish Arts Council First Book of the Year Award. He was described by the Sunday Times as 'an accomplished and thoughtful writer ... set to become Britain's first war poet of the Iraq era.'