Modern and contemporary poetry
Penguin Books Ltd bone
Book Synopsis'Honest, unflinching and unforgettable... one of Britain's best writers' Stormzy'You will come away bruised.You will come away bruisedbut this will give you poetry.'Raw and stark, the poems in Yrsa Daley-Ward's breakthrough collection strip down her reflections on the heart, life, the inner self, coming of age, faith and loss to their essence. They resonate to the core of experience. 'Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands. A glorious living thing' Florence Welch 'yrsa daley-ward's 'bone' is a symphony of breaking and mending. an expert storyteller. of the rarest. and purest kind - daley-ward is uncannily attentive and in tune to the things beneath life. beneath the skin. beneath the weather of the everyday.' nayyirah waheed. author of salt. and nejmaTrade ReviewHonest, unflinching and unforgettable . . . one of Britain's best writersan expert storyteller. of the rarest. and purest kind--daley-ward is uncannily attentive and in tune to the things beneath life. beneath the skin. beneath the weather of the everyday.Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands. It sweats and breathes before you. A glorious living thingYou may think poetry is not for you, but please push yourself a little, go out of your comfort zone and buy bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward ... You will thank us for it * BBC Radio 5 Live *[bone] will hit you like a gut punch ... Some poems had me weeping; I printed others to pin to my wall for daily inspiration * Elle *[Yrsa Daley-Ward] is at the realm of a new wave of contemporary poets who inspire an unprecedented level of empathy and accessibility through their honest and raw approach . . . [A] powerful collection of a woman facing tumultuous inner and external battles head on, delivered with a hard-hitting directness, yet with inflections of optimism throughout that are bound to touch readers to their core * i-D Magazine *One of the must-reads of the year * Evening Standard *Another stunning excavator of human heat and light, Yrsa Daley-Ward goes straight to the messy beating heart of animal attraction with bone, mesmerizing poems that strip bare the pain and beauty of negotiating longing, sex and love * Huffington Post *Beautiful ... Moving ... Touching
£9.49
Eyewear Publishing Suspicious Circumstances: An Album of Events and
Book Synopsis
£11.69
Pan Macmillan The Fire of Joy: Roughly 80 Poems to Get by Heart
Book SynopsisClive James read, learned and recited poetry aloud for most of his life. In this, the last book he completed before his death, the much-loved poet, broadcaster and author offers a selection of his favourite poems and a personal commentary on each.In the last months of his life, his vision impaired by surgery and unable to read, Clive James explored the treasure-house of his mind: the poems he knew best, so good that he didn't just remember them, he found them impossible to forget. The Fire of Joy is the record of this final journey of recollection and celebration.Enthralled by poetry all his life, James knew hundreds of poems by heart. In offering this selection of his favourites, a succession of poems from the sixteenth century to the present, his aim is to inspire you to discover and to learn, and perhaps even to speak poetry aloud.In his highly personal anthology, James offers a commentary on each of the eighty or so poems: sometimes a historical or critical note on the poem or its author, sometimes a technical point about the poem's construction from someone who was himself a poet, sometimes a personal anecdote about the role the poem played in his own life.Whether you're familiar with a poem or not – whether you're familiar with poetry in general or not – these chatty, unpretentious, often tender mini-essays convey the joy of James's enthusiasm and the benefit of his knowledge. His urgent wish was to share with a new generation what he himself had loved. This is a book to be read cover to cover or dipped into: either way it generously opens up a world for our delight.'Clive James's joyous farewell . . . from Thomas Wyatt to Carol Ann Duffy' – Guardian, Best Poetry of 2020Clive James (1939–2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His acclaimed poetry includes the collection Sentenced to Life and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, both Sunday Times bestsellers.Trade ReviewA treasure trove of poetic pleasure * The Times *The Fire of Joy is a proper pleasure. Fun and fight-picking, wise and persuasive. James loves a layman and, by the end, the layman certainly loves James . . . “It’s a dipper,” said my husband, reading over my shoulder. If I wasn’t on review duty, that’s the way I’d read it: dipping in at random, at bedtime, a poem a night. -- Laura Freeman * The Times *The Fire of Joy is a set of personal, quintessentially Jamesian commentaries on 80 of his favourite poems. * Guardian *A must for anthology lovers . . . The late, great critic and poet doesn't so much look forward as back; these are old favourites (Byron, Wordsworth, Masefield, Owen) from a lifetime’s reading, with personal notes on each one. I found it moving as well as a joy. -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *A wonderful anthology of 80 or so poems to memorise and read aloud, selected by the late critic and humorist Clive James. Enjoy the poems and his witty, opinionated mini-essays about his choices. * The Times Best Books of 2020 So Far… *Clive James’s joyous farewell . . . from Thomas Wyatt to Carol Ann Duffy, this valedictory volume features 80 poems he learned and loved, each accompanied by an essay to persuade us of their brilliance. -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian, Best Poetry of 2020 *Clive James was so prolific that he’s still publishing books a year after his death . . . [These] are poems to “murmur under your breath at the bus stop, declaim aloud in the bath, roar from the rooftops”. -- James Marriott * The Times, Best Literary Non-fiction Books of the Year 2020 *A book to lighten the darkness . . . What links them all [the selected poems] are Clive James’ typically witty, sometimes abrasive and always passionate comments. It’s a book to dip into and ponder in this bleak midwinter. -- Piers Plowright * Tablet *Extraordinarily cogent . . . I have read many old men’s books over the years, and even the best writers often lose their flavour . . . But this book shows no diminution whatever of James’s talents, and it’s fueled by his obvious love of the form. -- Marcus Berkmann * Spectator *[This book] is full of boisterous life . . . His farewell is funny, intellectually sharp and a faithful companion for this age of turmoil and uncertainty . . . [it] rings and rhymes with passion and learning from a big brain who found room in his soul for poetry and in his heart for the contentment it can bring in good times and the solace it carries in bad times. -- Hugh MacDonald * Herald *The context of [this book's] composition is inescapable and each choice seems more moving in light of James’ impending demise . . . The Fire of Joy is a generous and genial valediction from one of Australia’s most famous wits. -- James Antoniou * Sydney Morning Herald *A deeply affecting book that blends autobiography with literary criticism, and is filled with James’s trademark breezy erudition and wit . . . It is indeed a joy to read, and savour. -- Troy Bramston * Weekend Australian *
£11.69
Andrews McMeel Publishing The She Book
Book SynopsisThe She Book is a collection of 107 poems and prose written for you. Because this is your year to live the life of your dreams, to heal, to witness, to be the one who queens. Once a silent star in the sky, lost, alone and unnoticed, she began to dream her life awake. Crafting together the power of words and womanhood, writer Tanya Markul has written a completely unique poetry collection fit for the phenomenal readers of today. In Tanya's words, "May we raise the bar for how we live our lives. May we ridiculously increase the amount of peace, play, creativity, beauty, love, and joy in everything we do. May we all sip from the wisdom of our suffering. And awaken with the courage to share our stories that can heal our inner and outer worlds."
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Emperors Babe From the Booker prizewinning
Book SynopsisFROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHERWINNER OF THE NESTA FELLOWSHIP AWARD 2003''Wildly entertaining, deeply affecting'' Ali Smith, author of How to be both and AutumnA coming-of-age tale to make the muses themselves roar with laughter and weep for pity -- sassy, razor-sharp and transformative.Londinium, AD 211. Zuleika is a modern girl living in an ancient world. She''s a back-alley firecracker, a scruffy Nubian babe with tangled hair and bare feet - and she''s just been married off a fat old Roman. Life as a teenage bride is no joke but Zeeks is a born survivor. She knows this city like the back of her hand: its slave girls and drag queens, its shining villas and rotting slums. She knows how to get by. Until one day she catches the eye of the most powerful man on earth, the Roman Emperor, and her trouble really starts . . .Silver-tongued and merry-eyed, this is a sto
£8.54
Faber & Faber Gottfried Benn Impromptus
Book SynopsisThe first poem in Gottfried Benn's first book, Morgue (1912) - written in an hour, published in a week, and notorious ever after, or so the poet claimed - with its scandalous closing image of an aster sewn into a corpse by a playful medical student, set him on his celebrated path.
£11.69
Faber & Faber Yehuda Amichai Selected Poems
Book SynopsisYehuda Amichai was first brought to attention in this country by his inclusion in Modern Poetry in Translation (1965). The magazine''s editors, Daniel Weissbort and Ted Hughes, here provide a selection of Amichai''s poetry translated by various hands, placing his achievements alongside those other Eastern European poets with whom he was first introduced Zbigniew Herbert, Miroslav Holub, Vasko Popa, Czeslaw Milosz and Andrei Voznesensky while demonstrating what makes his own talent so unique.In Ted Hughes''s words, Amichai was ''the poet whose books I still open most often, most often take on a journey, most often return to when the whole business of writing anything natural, real and satisfying, seems impossible. And that after thirty years of feeling the same way about him. The effect his poetry has on me is to give me my own life to open it up somehow, to make it available to me afresh, to uncover all kinds of riches in every moment of it, and to free me from my mental prisons''.
£13.49
Orion Publishing Co Rupert Brooke Wilfred Owen
Book SynopsisIf I should die, think only this of me:That there''s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England.From The Soldier to Anthem for Doomed Youth Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen are two of the best-loved poets from the heroic lost generation of the First World War. Brooke''s work was well-known before the war, with the now iconic lines:''Stands the Church clock at ten to three?And is there honey still for tea?'' from The Old Vicarage, Grantchester. And Wilfred Owen, awarded the Military Cross, had been writing poetry since he was ten years old.This superb collection is the perfect introduction to two of our greatest poets.
£7.59
Headline Publishing Group LVOE
Book SynopsisFrom the internationally bestselling author of Love Her Wild, The Dark Between Stars, and The Truth About Magic comes LVOE., a dazzling new journey into the great unknown by Atticus. Featuring over 250 brand new poems, this sees Atticus take his readers on an enthralling, unforgettable new adventure. For the first time since he began writing, three-time New York Times bestselling author Atticus is inviting readers to take a look behind the mask as he embarks on a powerful journey inward in search of love, peace, and acceptance.His fourth poetry collection, LVOE., is a study into himself. Using his instantly recognisable lyrical style, gorgeous black-and-white illustrations, and relatable themes, Atticus will once again dazzle readers, inspiring them to also look within. This collection will feature all-new poems, each paired with beautiful sketches that bring the words alive from the page.An exploration of self-love, meditation, m
£15.29
Pan Macmillan Love
Book SynopsisIn Love, Carol Ann Duffy, one of the English language’s best-loved living poets presents from her own archives, in chronological order, her favourites among her poems on the theme of love, drawing on work written over four decades, and she adds to her selection one new poem. It makes for a sequence that is sensual, stimulating, irresistible.Trade ReviewWonderful . . . a poet alert to every sound and shape of language * Telegraph *Duffy is magnificent, grounded, heartfelt, dedicated to the notion that poetry can give us the music of life itself * Scotsman *Carol Ann Duffy is arguably the nation’s favourite living poet * Jeanette Winterson, author of Frankissstein *Carol Ann Duffy is the most humane and accessible poet of our time * Guardian *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Call Us What We Carry: From the presidential
Book SynopsisThe breakout poetry collection by Sunday Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman‘Poetry so alive you want to hold it and protect it’ Malala YousafzaiThe luminous poetry collection captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, these poems shine a light on a moment of reckoning and reveal that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future.‘A new collection full of hope and healing from the young American poet who electrified the world’ Guardian‘Reading these poems, I feel at once haunted, heartened and formidably ministered to’ Tracy K. Smith‘The liberating force of the stories these poems tell about our resilience and survival showcases a powerful griot for our times’ Oprah DailyTrade ReviewHaunting... A soaring sense of history and solidarity pervades Gorman's debut collection... Call Us What We Carry is wide awake to the complex strata of human history and restlessly original in its poetic form... This is poetry rippling with communal recognition and empathy * Guardian *A book of poetry so alive you want to hold it and protect it, to read it all at once, and then immediately read it againPowerful... poignant... tender... Amanda Gorman's debut proves that she is poetry's brightest young thing * Tatler *Between breath, light, water and soil, text messages and letters, and visual formations of ships, whales and flags, Gorman's Call Us What We Carry is an inventive literary resurrection * Daily Mail *Amanda Gorman is a seer, a seeker, a speaker of our most difficult and astonishing truths. Reading these poems, I feel at once haunted, heartened and formidably ministered to
£10.44
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Staying Human: new poems for Staying Alive
Book SynopsisStaying Human is the sequel to the Staying Alive trilogy of anthologies which have introduced many thousands of new readers to contemporary poetry. This fourth Bloodaxe world poetry anthology offers poetry lovers an even broader, international selection of 500 more ‘real poems for unreal times’, with a strong focus on 21st-century poems addressing current issues. The range of poetry here complements that of the first three anthologies: hundreds of thoughtful and passionate poems about living in the modern world; poems that touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit; poems about what makes us human, about love and loss, fear and longing, hurt and wonder; talismanic poems which have become personal survival testaments for many. There’s a strong focus on the human side of living in the 21st century in poems from the past two decades relating to migration, oppression, alienation and the individual’s struggle to hold on, stay connected and find meaning in an increasingly polarised world. Staying Human also draws on poems suggested by readers because they’ve been so important in their own lives, as well as many poems which have gone viral after being shared on social media because they speak to our times with such great immediacy. And there are poems from around the world written just recently in response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.Trade ReviewThese poems distil the human heart as nothing else… Staying Alive celebrates the point of poetry. It’s invigorating and makes me proud of being human. -- Jane CampionStaying Alive is a book which leaves those who have read or heard a poem from it feeling less alone and more alive. -- John BergerI love Staying Alive and keep going back to it. Being Alive is just as vivid, strongly present and equally beautifully organised. But this new book feels even more alive – I think it has a heartbeat, or maybe that’s my own thrum humming along with the music of these poets. Sitting alone in a room with these poems is to be assured that you are not alone, you are not crazy (or if you are, you’re not the only one who thinks this way!) I run home to this book to argue with it, find solace in it, to locate myself in the world again. -- Meryl StreepTable of ContentsNeil Astley 17 Introduction 1 Staying human Tom Leonard 22 Being a Human Being Patrizia Cavalli 22 ‘Here I am, I do my bit…’ Göran Sonnevi 23 ‘Whose life? you asked’ Fernando Pessoa 24 They Spoke to Me of People, and of Humanity John Barr 24 Bonsai Master Audre Lorde 25 A Litany for Survival Robert Pinsky 26 Samurai Song Zeina Hashem Beck 27 You Fixed It Janet Fisher 28 Life and Other Terms Vincenza Holland 29 Excuse Me U.A. Fanthorpe 30 A Minor Role Pippa Little 31 Against Hate Tatamkhulu Afrika 32 The Woman at the Till Ellery Akers 33 The Word That Is a Prayer Danusha Laméris 34 Insha’Allah David Friedland 35 Blind man Danusha Laméris 35 Small Kindnesses Mimi Khalvati 36 Smiles Mimi Khalvati 37 The Brag Nikola Madzirov 37 When Someone Goes Away Everything That’s Been Done Comes Back Ellen Bass 38 Gate C22 Naomi Shihab Nye 39 Gate A-4 Fred D’Aguiar 41 Excise Thomas Kinsella 42 Mirror in February Charles Simic 42 Mirrors at 4 a.m. Zhang Zao 43 Mirror Rachael Boast 44 Desperate Meetings of Hermaphrodites Werner Aspenström 44 You and I and the World Kaveh Akbar 45 What Use Is Knowing Anything If No One Is Around Tim Liardet 46 Self-Portrait with Aquarium Octopus Flashing a Mirror M. Vasalis 47 The IJsselmeer Dam Stewart Conn 47 Conundrum Valerio Magrelli 48 Vanishing Point Richard Siken 49 Landscape with Fruit Rot and Millipede Marjorie Lotfi Gill 50 Gift Patrizia Cavalli 51 ‘I’m pretty clear, I’m dying…’ Lawrence Sail 51 Recognition Tracy K. Smith 52 Nanluoxiang Alley Dzifa Benson 52 Self Portrait as a Creature of Numbers Wisława Szymborska 53 A Contribution to Statistics Gennady Aygi 55 People Linda Anderson 56 Sanctuary Judith Herzberg 56 The Way Anna Swir 57 The Same Inside Martín Espada 58 Rednecks Natalie Diaz 59 The Beauty of a Busted Fruit Suji Kwock Kim 59 Monologue for an Onion Nadine Aisha Jassat 60 The Years Nadine Aisha Jassat 61 Let Me Tell You Jessica Traynor 62 In Praise of Fixer Women Marie Howe 63 Magdalene Afterwards Marie Howe 65 One Day Tishani Doshi 65 Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods 2 Ten Zillion Things Mark Strand 68 Lines for Winter Linda Pastan 68 Imaginary Conversation Jack Gilbert 69 Failing and Flying Gillian Clarke 70 Snow Vladmír Holan 71 Snow W.N. Herbert 71 Breakfrost Derek Mahon 72 Rising Late Michelle O’Sullivan 74 What Was Mistook Michelle O’Sullivan 74 Lines John F. Deane 75 The Red Gate Alison Brackenbury 75 So Ellen Bass 76 Any Common Desolation Lisel Mueller 77 In Passing Leanne O’Sullivan 77 A Healing Hanny Michaelis 78 ‘It’s terrible…’ John F. Deane 78 The World is Charged David Butler 79 And Then The Sun Broke Through William Stafford 80 You Reading This, Be Ready Hanny Michaelis 80 ‘Over the years…’ Deryn Rees-Jones 81 Meteor Tuvia Ruebner 81 Wonder Blake Morrison 82 Happiness Jack Underwood 82 Happiness Ruth Stone 83 Wanting Mikiro Sasaki 84 Sentiments David Ferry 84 Lake Water Randall Jarrell 86 Well Water Seamus Heaney 87 A Drink of Water Lani O’Hanlon 87 Going to the Well Denise Levertov 88 The Fountain G.F. Dutton 89 The Miraculous Issue George Szirtes 90 Water Moya Cannon 91 Introductions A.E. Stallings 91 Olives Jan Wagner 92 quince jelly Louis de Paor 93 Marmalade Sarah Lindsay 95 If God Made Jam Craig Arnold 95 Meditation on a Grapefruit Aleš Šteger 96 Chocolate Aleš Šteger 97 Egg Thomas Lux 98 Refrigerator, 1957 Connie Bensley 99 Cookery Mary Ruefle 100 Timberland Matthew Dickman 101 The World is Too Huge to Grasp Linda Gregg 102 Let Birds Imtiaz Dharker 103 Carving Alice Oswald 104 A Short History of Falling Aracelis Girmay 105 Ars Poetica Ruth Sharman 105 Fragments Carlos Drummond de Andrade 106 The House of Lost Time Vera Pavlova 107 ‘If there is something to desire…’ Luis Muñoz 107 Leave Poetry Boris A. Novak 108 Decisions: 11 Carlos Drummond de Andrade 109 Absence Mairéad Byrne 109 Facing the Music Ruth Sharman 110 Hilltop Dennis O’Driscoll 110 Nocturne 3 Innocence and experience Malika Booker 112 Cement Malika Booker 113 Erasure Tracey Herd 114 Happy Birthday Sinéad Morrissey 115 Fairground Music Sharon Olds 116 To Our Miscarried One, Age Thirty Now Dorothea Lasky 117 The Miscarriage Fiona Benson 118 Sheep Derry O’Sullivan 119 Stillborn 1943: Calling Limbo Deirdre Brennan 120 Born Dead Noelle Lynskey 121 Still Born Sandeep Parmar 122 An uncommon language Aoife Lyall 124 Sounds of that day Aoife Lyall 125 Ubi Sunt Catriona Clutterbuck 126 Her Body Rebecca Goss 126 The Lights Ciara MacLaverty 127 ‘That’s Quite a Trick If You Can Pull It Off’ Fiona Benson 128 Prayer Hannah Sullivan 128 from The Sandpit after Rain Mona Arshi 129 Delivery Room Doireann Ní Ghríofa 130 Inventory: Recovery Room Justyna Bargielska 130 Different rose Zoë Brigley 131 Star / Sun / Snow Doireann Ní Ghríofa 133 Jigsaw Puzzle Jack Underwood 133 William Rebecca Goss 134 Last Poem Fiona Benson 135 Hide and Seek Ellen Cranich 136 Blasket Sound Niall Campbell 137 Night Watch Niall Campbell 138 February Morning Liz Berry 138 The Republic of Motherhood Rebecca Goss 140 My Animal Fiona Benson 140 Ruins Moya Cannon 141 Milk Esther Morgan 142 Latch Ailbhe Darcy 142 After my son was born Hollie McNish 143 Embarrassed Stephanie Norgate 146 Miracle Lauris Edmond 147 Late song Peter Sansom 148 Mini Van Sharon Olds 148 I Cannot Say I Did Not Katharine Towers 149 Childhood Lucille Clifton 150 daughters Jane Clarke 150 The trouble Brenda Shaughnessy 151 I Wish I Had More Sisters Ann Gray 153 I wish I had more mothers Gretchen Marquette 154 Want Tess Gallagher 155 With Stars Tess Gallagher 156 I Stop Writing the Poem Jane Clarke 156 Hers Naomi Shihab Nye 157 Shoulders Olivia McCannon 158 New Road Leanne O’Sullivan 159 My Father Asks Why Leanne O’Sullivan 160 The Cord Naomi Shihab Nye 161 Supple Cord Gwendolyn Brooks 162 a song in the front yard Tracy K. Smith 162 The World Is Your Beautiful Younger Sister Penelope Shuttle 163 Outgrown Carol Ann Duffy 164 Empty Nest Anna Enquist 165 All at Once Inua Ellams 165 Swallow Twice Jacob Sam-La Rose 166 Never Jacob Sam-La Rose 166 The Other End of the Line Jericho Brown 168 Prayer of the Backhanded Jericho Brown 169 As a Human Being Doireann Ní Ghríofa 170 Tooth Anne Michaels 172 from Correspondences: a poem Abigail Parry 176 The Quilt Safiya Sinclair 177 Family Portrait Pascale Petit 178 My Mother’s Love Pascale Petit 179 Her Harpy Eagle Claws Pascale Petit 180 My Wolverine Jacqueline Bishop 181 Snakes Selima Hill 182 from Grunter Selima Hill 185 from Sunday Afternoons at the Gravel-pits Shivanee Ramlochan 188 from The Red Thread Cycle Zoë Brigley 190 The Eye in the Wall Nicki Heinen 191 Solent Ward, Royal Free Hospital, 2008 Aria Aber 192 Asylum Sasha Dugdale 194 Asylum Sasha Dugdale 195 ‘Perhaps Akhmatova was right’ Xidu Heshang 196 Fictionalising Her Tony Hoagland 197 Personal 4 After Frank O’Hara Frank O’Hara 200 The Day Lady Died Rita Dove 201 Canary John Burnside 201 The Day Etta Died Clare Pollard 202 The Day Amy Died Nick Flynn 203 The Day Lou Reed Died Ian McMillan 205 The Evening of the Day Pavarotti Died Anjum Hasan 205 The Day No One Died Frank O’Hara 206 Autobiographia Literaria Safiya Sinclair 207 Autobiography Geoff Hattersley 208 Frank O’Hara Five, Geoffrey Chaucer Nil Simon Armitage 208 Poem Martina Evans 209 I Want to Be like Frank O’Hara Phoebe Stuckes 210 Kiss me quick Frank O’Hara 211 Katy Roger Reeves 211 Someday I’ll Love Roger Reeves Ocean Vuong 212 Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong Frank O’Hara 213 Why I Am Not a Painter Maria Barnas 214 Why I Am Not a Painter Matthew Sweeney 215 My Life as a Painter Adam Zagajewski 216 Describing Paintings 5 Harmony and discord John Hegley 218 A Declaration of Need Robert Wrigley 218 A Lock of Her Hair Jackie Kay 219 High Land Marie Howe 220 Low Tide, Late August Katharine Kilalea 220 You were a bird Sarah Lindsay 221 The Arms of a Marvelous Squid Warsan Shire 222 for women who are difficult to love Jericho Brown 223 Colosseum Jericho Brown 224 Of My Fury Caroline Bird 225 Marriage of Equals Joan Larkin 226 Want Chen Chen 227 Poem in Noisy Mouthfuls Mary Jean Chan 229 // Jane Clarke 230 Vows Miriam Nash 231 Love Song for a Keeper Seamus Heaney 232 Scaffolding Valerio Magrelli 232 The Embrace Vidyan Ravinthiran 233 Aubade Leanne O’Sullivan 233 Leaving Early Leanne O’Sullivan 234 Note Alex Dimitrov 235 Some New Thing Eavan Boland 236 Lines for a Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary Hester Knibbe 236 Yes Dick Davis 237 Uxor Vivamus… Dick Davis 238 Making a Meal of It Wendy Cope 239 To My Husband Wendy Cope 239 One Day Anne Haverty 240 Objecting to Everything Elaine Feinstein 242 A Visit Tara Bergin 242 Wedding Cake Decorations Ranjit Hoskoté 242 Couple Rebecca Perry 243 Windows Joan Margarit 244 Love is a place John Challis 244 The Love Fleur Adcock 245 Happy Ending Kei Miller 246 Epilogue Conor O’Callaghan 246 Kingdom Come Vona Groarke 247 Ghost Poem Phoebe Stuckes 248 Gold Hoop Earrings Phoebe Stuckes 249 Attempt Cynthia Huntington 250 For Love Bobby Parker 251 Working Class Voodoo Melissa Lee-Houghton 252 Love-Smitten Heart Louis Jenkins 255 Fish Out of Water Sarah Holland-Batt 255 No End to Images Patrizia Cavalli 256 ‘Very simple love that believes in words…’ Natalie Shaw 257 Like when we went to the cinema that time Darío Jaramillo 258 from Impossible Loves Darío Jaramillo 258 Mozart on the Motorway Michael Longley 259 Ceilidh Derek Mahon 260 Aran Paddy Bushe 261 The Rolling Wave Seamus Heaney 262 The Given Note Gerard Fanning 262 That Note Seamus Heaney 263 Song Adam Zagajewski 264 Music Heard with You Elizabeth Burns 265 Listening to Bach’s B Minor Mass in the Kitchen Lars Gustafsson 266 The silence of the world before Bach Adam Zagajewski 266 Chaconne Jane Hirshfield 267 Even the Vanishing Housed Tomas Tranströmer 268 Schubertiana Tomas Tranströmer 270 Allegro Gregory Orr 270 To Be Alive 6 Mortal hurt Tomas Tranströmer 272 The Half-Finished Heaven Jan Erik Vold 272 The Fact That No Birds Sing Galway Kinnell 274 Wait Louise Glück 275 from Averno Caroline Bird 276 The End of the Bed Caroline Bird 277 A Surreal Joke Ken Babstock 278 As Marginalia in John Clare’s The Rural Muse Lieke Marsman 279 The Following Scan Will Last Less Than a Minute Lieke Marsman 279 The Following Scan Will Last One Minute Lieke Marsman 280 The Following Scan Will Last Five Minutes Jo Shapcott 281 Of Mutability Ilyse Kusnetz 282 Harbinger Julie O’Callaghan 283 No Can Do Wayne Holloway-Smith 284 ‘the posh mums are boxing in the square…’ Anna Swir 285 My Body Effervesces Robert Hass 286 A Story About the Body Max Ritvo 286 Poem to My Litter Max Ritvo 288 Heaven Is Us Being a Flower Together Max Ritvo 289 Cachexia Mark Doty 290 Michael’s Dream Ana Ristović 291 The Body Elaine Feinstein 292 Long Life Ruth Stone 293 The Excuse Finuala Dowling 294 At eighty-five, my mother’s mind Finuala Dowling 295 Widowhood in the dementia ward Finuala Dowling 295 Birthday in the dementia ward Judith Herzberg 296 Old Age Roger McGough 296 The Wrong Beds Geraldine Mitchell 297 Sneak Geraldine Mitchell 297 How the Body Remembers Elise Partridge 298 from The Book of Steve Menno Wigman 298 Everyone Is Beautiful Today Michael Longley 299 Age Thomas Lynch 300 Refusing at Fifty-two to Write Sonnets Dermot Healy 300 As You Get Older Mary O’Malley 301 A Lift James Fenton 302 For Andrew Wood Vijay Seshadri 303 Bright Copper Kettles Anne Stevenson 304 Anaesthesia Elise Partridge 305 Last Days Michael O’Loughlin 306 In This Life Zaffar Kunial 308 Prayer Adil Jussawalla 308 Mother’s Ninety-fourth Birthday Menno Wigman 309 Body, my body Janet Ayachi 309 Spooning Stars Matthew Sweeney 310 The Tube Kerry Hardie 311 Ship of Death Sara Berkeley Tolchin 312 Burrow Beach Helen Dunmore 313 My life’s stem was cut Helen Dunmore 314 Hold out your arms Lorna Goodison 316 My Mother’s Sea Chanty Vicki Feaver 316 You Are Not Sharon Olds 318 In the Temple Basement Emily Berry 319 The photo that is most troubling is the one I don’t want to show you Annemarie Austin 320 from Country Annemarie Austin 320 What My Double Will Steven Matthews 321 Last Christmas Cracker Kerry Hardie 322 After My Father Died Valérie Rouzeau 322 from Vrouz Bernard O’Donoghue 323 Ter Conatus Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 324 The Morandi Bridge Jay Whittaker 325 The call Jay Whittaker 325 Bed fellow Ruth Fainlight 326 Oxygen Mask Ruth Fainlight 327 Somewhere Else Entirely Elaine Feinstein 328 Beds Imtiaz Dharker 328 Screen-saver Imtiaz Dharker 329 Passport photo Imtiaz Dharker 330 Say his name Gillian Clarke 330 Honesty Katie Donovan 331 Off Duty Eunice de Souza 331 Advice to Women Ron Koertge 332 Lily Wisława Szymborska 332 Cat in an Empty Apartment Theresa Lola 333 Tailoring Grief Wisława Szymborska 334 The Day After – Without Us Billy Collins 335 Helium Mary Ruefle 336 Trust Me Lucie Brock-Boido 337 Soul Keeping Company Dean Young 338 Street of Sailmakers Denise Riley 339 Listening for Lost People Dennis O’Driscoll 340 Then Julie O’Callaghan 341 Beyond Julie O’Callaghan 341 Cyber You Alison Brackenbury 342 All 7 Interesting times Selina Nwulu 344 We have everything we need Derek Mahon 345 Insomnia Colette Bryce 346 Helicopters Jennifer L. Knox 347 Drones Colette Bryce 348 Belfast Waking, 6 a.m. Doireann Ní Ghríofa 349 On Patrick Street Imtiaz Dharker 350 Flight Radar Jean Sprackland 351 CCTV Jasmine Ann Cooray 352 Call Centre Blues John Cooper Clarke 352 Bed Blocker Blues David Constantine 354 Pity Jacob Saenz 355 Sweeping the States Jane Commane 356 Midlands kids Sarah Howe 357 On a line by Xu Lizhi Jeong Ho-seung 358 Death of a Cellphone Sabeer Haka 358 Politics Sabeer Haka 359 Mulberries Paul Farley 359 Hole in the Wall Zohar Atkins 360 Song of Myself (Apocryphal) Tim Turnbull 361 Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn Caitlín Nic Íomhair 363 Praise the Young Jessica Mookherjee 363 Ursa Minor Theresa Muñoz 364 Be the first to like this A.E. Stallings 365 Like, the Sestina 8 Roots and routes Deryn Rees-Jones 368 Home Nina Bogin 368 Initiation, II Maura Dooley 369 Dancing at Oakmead Road Eavan Boland 370 Nocturne Tom French 371 The Last Light Peter Sirr 371 from The Rooms Jane Clarke 374 Who owns the field? Kirun Kapur 374 Anthem David Dabydeen 375 Catching Crabs Aleš Debeljak 376 A Letter Home Stanisław Barańczak 377 If China Arundhathi Subramaniam 378 Home Moniza Alvi 378 And if Vidyan Ravinthiran 379 Ceylon Vidyan Ravinthiran 380 My Sri Lankan Family Daljit Nagra 380 Our Town with the Whole of India Roger Robinson 382 To His Homeland Elisabeth Sennitt Clough 382 Potato Season Mir Mahfuz Ali 383 My Son Waits by the Door Alberto Ríos 384 We Are of a Tribe Vahni Capildeo 385 Going Nowhere, Getting Somewhere Imtiaz Dharker 386 Chaudhri Sher Mobarik looks at the loch André Naffis-Sahely 387 Vanishing Act André Naffis-Sahely 387 An Island of Strangers Adam Zagajewski 388 The Three Kings John Agard 389 Checking Out Me History Sujata Bhatt 391 A Different History Karin Karakaşlı 392 History-Geography Amir Darwish 393 Where I come from Imtiaz Dharker 394 Minority Luis Muñoz 395 The Foreigner Hama Tuma 396 Just a Nobody Amarjit Chandan 396 In This Country Keki Daruwalla 397 Migrations Beata Duncan 399 The Notebook Mina Gorji 400 Exit Adam Zagajewski 401 Refugees Wisława Szymborska 402 Some People Bejan Matur 403 Night Spent in the Temple of a Patient God Bejan Matur 404 The Moon Sucks up Our Grief Ribka Sibhatu 406 In Lampedusa Musa Okwonga 408 Hundreds of cockroaches drowned today Azita Ghahreman 408 The Boat That Brought Me Carolyn Forché 409 The Boatman Linda Gregerson 410 from Sleeping Bear Naomi Shihab Nye 411 Mediterranean Blue Kimiko Hahn 411 After being asked if I write ‘the occasional poem’ Reza Mohammadi 412 Illegal Immigrant Moniza Alvi 413 Flight Fadwa Soulieman 414 For Lana Sadiq Audre Lorde 415 Diaspora Philip Gross 416 The Displaced Persons Camp Teresa Samuel Ibrahim 416 Longing Teresa Samuel Ibrahim 417 The last train across Ariat Bridge Warsan Shire 418 Conversations about home Sabeer Haka 420 Home Gabeba Baderoon 420 I Cannot Myself 9 Empathy and conflict Kwame Dawes 422 Land Ho Edward Baugh 422 A Nineteenth-century Portrait Kevin Young 423 Reward Martín Espada 425 How We Could Have Lived or Died This Way Gwendolyn Brooks 426 We Real Cool Terrance Hayes 427 The Golden Shovel Wanda Coleman 429 American Sonnet: 94 Terrance Hayes 429 American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin Terrance Hayes 430 American Sonnet for the New Year Patricia Smith 431 That Chile Emmett in the Casket James Berry 432 Travelling As We Are James Berry 433 In-a Brixtan Markit Elizabeth Alexander 434 Smile Patricia Smith 435 10-Year-Old Shot Three Times, but She’s Fine Jericho Brown 436 Bullet Points Danez Smith 437 the bullet was a girl Evie Shockley 438 supply and demand Dean Bowen 439 mi skin Kayo Chingonyi 440 The N Word Natasha Trethewey 441 Flounder Natasha Trethewey 442 Help, 1968 Hannah Lowe 443 Dance Class Hannah Lowe 443 Sausages Rita Dove 444 After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed Raymond Antrobus 445 Jamaican British Anthony Anaxagorou 446 Cause Anthony Anaxagorou 447 Departure Lounge Twenty Seventeen Claudia Rankine 449 from Citizen Claudia Rankine 450 from August 4, 2011 / In Memory of Mark Duggan Roy McFarlane 453 from …they killed them Danez Smith 454 dinosaurs in the hood Thomas McCarthy 456 Slow Food Imtiaz Dharker 456 A Century Later Remco Campert 457 Poetry Leanne O’Sullivan 458 Safe House Ilya Kaminsky 459 We Lived Happily during the War Ilya Kaminsky 460 In a Time of Peace Luis Muñoz 461 Breathing Fatimah Asghar 461 If They Come for Us Solmaz Sharif 463 Look Lorraine Mariner 465 Thursday Chrissy Williams 466 The Burning of the Houses Ishion Hutchinson 466 The Garden Major Jackson 468 Selling Out Jay Bernard 470 Clearing Jay Bernard 471 + Jay Bernard 471 – Roger Robinson 472 Doppelgänger Roger Robinson 473 The Portrait Museum Roger Robinson 474 The Father Valerio Magrelli 474 The Boundary André Mangeot 475 Bellwether Deborah Moffatt 475 Eating Thistles Choman Hardi 476 Dispute Over a Mass Grave Choman Hardi 477 A Day for Love Seamus Heaney 478 Chorus from The Cure at Troy 10 The future? Nick Drake 480 Stranger Thing Sarah Westcott 481 The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Maura Dooley 481 Still Life with Sea Pinks and High Tide Polly Atkin 482 Colony Collapse Disorder Frank Báez 483 Exodus Mikeas Sánchez 484 What Is It Worth? David Constantine 484 Dominion Dom Bury 485 The Body’s New Weather Patrick Deeley 486 Two Hundred Million Animals Patrick Deeley 487 The End of the World Jack Underwood 487 Alpha Step Chase Twichell 488 Birdsong Chase Twichell 489 Herds of Humans David Tait 490 By Degrees David Tait 490 The Virus at My Window Imtiaz Dharker 491 Cranes Lean In Peter Sirr 492 Ode Gerda Stevenson 493 Hands Amit Majmudar 494 An American Nurse Foresees Her Death Imtiaz Dharker 494 Seen from a Drone, Delhi Imtiaz Dharker 496 Seen from a Drone, Mumbai Ruth Padel 497 Still life with a map of the world outside the window Joshua Bennett 498 Dad Poem Nick Drake 499 The Future 501 Acknowledgements 510 Index of writers 517 Index of titles and first lines
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Surge
Book Synopsis**Winner of the 2020 Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award**Jay Bernard's extraordinary debut is a fearless exploration of the New Cross Fire of 1981, a house fire at a birthday party in which thirteen young black people were killed. Dubbed the 'New Cross Massacre', the fire was initially believed to be a racist attack, and the indifference with which the tragedy was met by the state triggered a new era of race relations in Britain.Tracing a line from New Cross to the 'towers of blood' of the Grenfell fire, this urgent collection speaks with, in and of the voices of the past, brought back by the incantation of dancehall rhythms and the music of Jamaican patois, to form a living presence in the absence of justice. A ground-breaking work of excavation, memory and activism - both political and personal, witness and documentary - Surge shines a much-needed light on an unacknowledged chapter in British history, one that powerfully resonates in our present moment.'The verse has anger and political purpose, but a rare lyrical precision, too. The combination is powerful' Sebastian Faulks, Spectator, Books of the Year 2020 *Winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry**Shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award; T.S. Eliot Prize; Forward Prize for Best First Collection; Dylan Thomas Prize; RSL Ondaatje Prize; John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize**Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize 2020*Trade ReviewHaunting, historical, archival and imaginative... a stunning debut -- Bernardine Evaristo * New Statesman, Books of the Year *Surge is a radical hybrid, painfully beautiful multigenerational ghost story, a social document, and a work of political archaeology. It is an indictment of this country's systemic hostility to its black, Asian and ethnic minority population, and the scandalous lack of accountability when this system claims lives. It is a heartbreaking and brilliant book about an ongoing tragedy -- Max Porter * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *Politically and lyrically compelling -- Raymond Antrobus * Observer, *Books of the Year* *Sensitive but devastating verse * Financial Times, *Summer Reads of 2019* *A searing combination of artistic invention and meticulous research into the 1981 New Cross Fire -- Pascale Petit, *RSL Ondaatje Prize*This affecting poetic exploration of the New Cross Fire of 1981 (dubbed “The New Cross Massacre”) is incantatory, lyrical and documentary. It makes a deep impact both on account of its own narrative and in the wake of Grenfell -- Elizabeth-Jane Burnett * The Sunday Times *A sad and angry consolation, alert to the past... Surge is a mature work, with lyricism both poetic and pop... [One] of British poetry’s most distinctive new voices -- Tristram Fane Saunders * Daily Telegraph *Although the fire, the subsequent protests and the founding of the Black People’s Day of Action were documented by poets Linton Kwesi Johnson and Benjamin Zephaniah among others, Bernard’s work uniquely addresses a new generation encountering this past almost afresh, as it is echoed painfully inthe present... The collection’s major achievement is its unfailing attentiveness to the framing of history through the stories of individuals and collectives that the poet holds, urgently, ethically and so skilfully, in their hands -- Sandeep Parmar * Guardian *If there were ever to be a twenty-first century Auden, with all the invention and cultural understanding, understanding of tradition and sense of the speed and the human outcome of foul politics, Jay Bernard is it -- Ali SmithJay Bernard’s poems sing with outrage and indignation, with fury and passion. They tell the story of two terrible fires of our times, and shockingly show how the past holds up an uncomfortable mirror to the present. They have brio, they have brilliance, they are breathtakingly brave. An astonishingly accomplished debut -- Jackie KayBernard brings alive the archive, evoking ghosts and giving voice to the dead and the aggrieved from moments in recent history all too painful... At each turn, these are poems that make you sit up and take notice * Diva *The poems here seethe with unspoken rage and acerbity; they read like thinned-out paraffin, something on the cusp of explosion... A brutal indictment of Britain’s racist history and hypocrisy in the face of the facts... Bernard’s persistent question drills down, line by line, into Britain’s dark subconscious -- Marek Sullivan * Frieze magazine *Rarely has the idea of the objectified, violated black body been framed so starkly... Bernard’s knack for showing rather than telling [...] ensures that their sustained engagement with tiered identity never feels overdone... Surge is valuable as much for its imaginative acumen as for its unflinching politics -- Camille Ralphs * Times Literary Supplement *Brilliant and unbearably moving… a kind of crowd-poem of different voices, connection the New Cross fire to the Grenfell Tower and all the victims of racism and racist violence in London -- Andy Croft * Morning Star *A range of poetic forms bring energy to this reappraisal of race, nation and embodiment -- Sandeep Parmar * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *Imagined with both tenderness and frankness... Its strong sense of place, patois, demand for justice, curiosity...are reminders that four decade on, the tragedy remains an open wound -- Kehinde Andrews * Observer *Jay Bernard's furious and heartbreaking poetry collection is their response to this outrageous tragedy [of the New Cross fire]. Read and feel rage * Guardian *'The verse has anger and political purpose, but a rare lyrical precision, too. The combination is powerful' * Sebastian Faulks, Spectator Books of the Year *The verse has anger and political purpose, but a rare lyrical precision, too. The combination is powerful -- Sebastian Faulks * Spectator, *Books of the Year* *
£11.69
Two Rivers Press The Colour of Rain
Book SynopsisThe Colour of Rain is Susan Utting's fifth full collection, following her New and Selected, Half the Human Race. Here she demonstrates a new-found intimacy with the natural world, a closeness that leads her to become part of it. She 'becomes' a Willow Sister, joins an avenue of poplars, has conversations with bees. And while nature is joyfully celebrated, poems also lament its losses: felled trees. disappearing species, Rachel Carson's all too present 'Silent Spring'. The poet's trademark musicality and dancing rhythms are in evidence throughout the collection's four sections. Her fascination with language, its sounds and resonances, demonstrate reviewer Philip Gross's comment that 'Utting unashamedly loves language, and it seems to love her back.'Trade Review‘Whether she is being a willow or imagining a sister, considering miracles, or reflecting upon family, Susan Utting’s poems are never less than delicately wrought, with a lovely ability to open out their language like Japanese flowers placed in a bowl of water. There is much arboreal meditation here, around which this poet weaves a deeply felt empathy with nature; there are dreamscapes, and portraits of animals and birds; there are witty encounters with weather. Beautifully observant throughout, and often employing an intent edge to their perceptions, these poems draw the reader most adeptly in to their realised world’ – Penelope Shuttle; ‘Susan Utting’s gloriously gathered language susurrates across the page like a spell. With it, she lifts up a corner of ourselves, reminding us of the menace of childhood landscapes, and the fairytale-dark memories we might have left buried there. But these wise and emotionally generous poems are also an incantation for healing, and she shows us how the walls we build around ourselves can be dismantled by the salve inherent in nature’s fundamentals – trees, sea, sky, snow, “the world’s rainbow”’ – Dawn Gorman
£10.79
Saqi Books C+NTO: & Othered Poems
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE T S ELIOT PRIZE 2021. The female body is a political space. C+nto enters the private lives of women from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the '90s to reclaim their bodies as their own - their difficult balance between survival and self-expression. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos to uncover these underground communities forged by women. Part-memoir and part-conjecture, Taylor explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. C+nto is a love poem, a riot, a late night, and an honouring.Trade Review'Joelle Taylor has produced one of the most astonishing and original poetry collections of recent years.' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman Books of the Year 2021;'A real treat ... inventive, powerfully moving work.' The Telegraph;'Visionary and powerful. I loved it.' Hollie McNish;'Absolutely incredible ... A celebration and a tribute to the dyke bars and the butches who left their mark ... This is work that should not be missed.' Diva Magazine, Book of the Month;'A reclamation and a proclamation. A book and a performance. A roll call and a remembrance. A tribute and a critique, not just for the Lesbian community, but for anyone who has had to struggle to establish their life and identity. A powerful celebration of an important culture.' Roger Robinson;'An altar of a book. Joelle Taylor has an unmatched gift as a poet, memoirist and chronicler.'Inua Ellam; 'A work of fearsome imaginative and creative reach ... sonorous and soaring poetry.'Fran Lock, Culture Matters;
£10.44
Andrews McMeel Publishing Time Will Tell
Book SynopsisTime Will Tell is a collection of introspective poetry from bestselling author Courtney Peppernell. Come along and discover what it means to start inward and evolve into the version of yourself the universe knows you can be.From the bestselling author of Pillow Thoughts and Watering the Soul comes another deeply honest and moving collection of poetry and prose that explores the strength and resilience we embody in the face of hardship and change. Presented in six captivating sections—Reflecting, Repairing, Change, Awakening, Emerging, and Rebirth—Time Will Tell tells the story of a curious, lost soul who crashed down to Earth on the search for purpose. With the help of their trusted guide, and told with Courtney Peppernell’s signature encouragement and beauty, this broken but fearless soul fights through each changing cycle and emerges more beautiful and stronger than the moment they fell. Come along as these endearing characters journey inward and you, too, may discover what it means to be free.
£10.79
Bonnier Books Ltd Love: Poems to bolster every heart that ever beat
Book Synopsis*Donna Ashworth's new book Wild Hope is out September 2023*FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF I WISH I KNEWA book for the passionate and warm-hearted among us, Love explores every type of affection and helps us to nurture our most precious connections.This collection invites us to keep space open for the love in our lives and to remember that it can be found in the most unexpected places.From familial ties to friendship and romantic love, these poems show tenderness as a powerful force - even towards yourself.Real readers are falling for Love- 'A poignant, beautiful, and soothing collection of poems' ***** NetGalley- 'I didn't realise how much I needed the words that was on the pages!' ***** NetGalley- 'Fabulous author whose poems come from her heart and whose words seem to speak the emotions in a way many of us can't.' *****Amazon- 'She is a truly talented writer who is capable of writing words that really speak to the soul.' *****Amazon
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Pilgrim Bell: Shortlisted for the 2022 Forward
Book Synopsis*AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021***Selected as one of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2021**'Profound and singular, smart and sad and funny. . . We need Pilgrim Bell.' TOMMY ORANGEWith formal virtuosity and ruthless precision, Kaveh Akbar's second collection takes its readers on a spiritual journey of disavowal, fiercely attendant to the presence of divinity where artifacts of self and belonging have been shed. How does one recover from addiction without destroying the self-as-addict? And if living justly in a nation that would see them erased is, too, a kind of self-destruction, what does one do with the body's question, "what now shall I repair?" Here, Akbar responds with prayer as an act of devotion to dissonance - the infinite void of a loved one's absence, the indulgence of austerity, making a life as a Muslim in an Islamophobic nation - teasing the sacred out of silence and stillness.Richly crafted and generous, Pilgrim Bell's linguistic rigour is tuned to the register of this moment and any moment. As the swinging soul crashes into its limits, against the atrocities of the American empire, and through a profoundly human capacity for cruelty and grace, these brilliant poems dare to exist in the empty space where song lives - resonant, revelatory, and holy.America, I warn you, if you invite me into your homeI will linger,kissing my beloveds frankly,pulling up radishesand capping all your pens.There are no good kings,only burning palaces.-from 'The Palace''Very few living writers write so achingly toward God as Kaveh Akbar . . . each of the poems in this collection finds its target' LAUREN GROFFTrade ReviewVery few living writers write so achingly toward God as Kaveh Akbar . . . each of the poems in this collection finds its target -- Lauren Groff * Observer, *Books of the Year* *These are poems on the grand scale, staging dramas of cosmic light and dark -- David Wheatley * Guardian *Kaveh Akbar is the sorcerer's sorcerer, masterful in the way he wields language . . . Profound and singular, smart and sad and funny, but most of all truth's beauty and beauty's truth sung . . . We need Pilgrim Bell. We need Kaveh Akbar -- Tommy Orange, author of THERE THEREA measured, quiet pondering of intense subjects and subjectivities... Pilgrim Bell insistently travels to necessary places, with regard to the intimacies of faith, the landscapes of empire and the performativity and honesty of poetry. The poems are deeply considered and show a contemplative maturation of Akbar's voice -- Khairani Barokka * Times Literary Supplement *What thrilled me most about this book was another commitment: the commitment to writing discomfort, or ugliness. Doing it well, and doing it without insisting upon beautification. Pilgrim Bell is a book that chooses honesty over beauty, which makes it a breathtaking text -- Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICAKaveh Akbar is truly a great writer, and his new collection Pilgrim Bell is a marvel. Like his previous work, it dazzles us. Akbar is an unlikely prophet - hilarious and irreverent and self-deprecating. Yet even nonbelievers will travel the circles of faith and hellscape, love and rebuke, through his captivating voice. He is incapable of setting down a line that's less than luminous. Pilgrim Bell is destined to become a classic -- Mary KarrWorking at and along the outer edges of language, Pilgrim Bell calls us to attention and to attend to that which poetry and prayer share, while simultaneously demanding that we tend to the political, the social, the erotic - all that is quotidian and human . . . In Pilgrim Bell, the poet Kaveh Akbar, 'God's incarnate spit in the mud,' takes us down to the ground, to the prosaic, the dismissed and overlooked, the better to talk to the great Silence, bearer of many names including that of God -- M. NourbeSe PhilipIn this rich and moving collection, Akbar writes poems of contradiction and ambivalence centered on religious belief and ethnic and national identity. Evocative and polyphonic, surprising but never artificially shocking, Akbar's poems flit from the divine to the corporeal in the same breath . . . This impressive, thoughtful work shimmers with inventive syntax and spiritual profundity -- Publishers Weekly
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Poems on the Underground
Book SynopsisAfter nearly thirty years and almost 500 poems, Poems on the Underground has become a familiar and welcome sight on London''s Tube, paying tribute to the magnificent tradition of English poetry, and to those who have contributed to its richness and diversity. In this beautiful paperback edition, poems old and new, familiar and unfamiliar explore such diverse topics as love, London, exile, family, dreams, war, music and nature, and feature hundreds of poets including Owen Sheers, Paul Muldoon, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, D. H. Lawrence, Kathleen Raine, Roger McGough, Wilfred Owen, Wendy Cope and John Clare, among many others.Trade ReviewThe most democratic artistic intervention of my lifetime -- Maev Kennedy * Guardian *London's most original contribution to urban civilisation -- Simon Jenkins * Evening Standard *Beautifully presented ... This makes it an ideal book to dip into. Few people would see this book lying around the house and not be tempted to quickly browse through and find a morsel of verse that meant something to them at that moment. Everyone will find their own favourites in the book * A Common Reader *
£14.24
Faber & Faber New Selected Poems
Book SynopsisNew Selected Poems is a book of singular abundance and formal verve, featuring poems of rare vision and dramatic power by a consummate and resilient artist. Demonstrating the wide range of Derek Mahon''s verse, from the early lyricism to a more expansive middle period (''New York Time'', ''Decadence'') and the flowering of his late style, it includes recent, uncollected work and culminates in the generous, far-reaching reverie ''Dreams of a Summer Night''.
£13.49
Bonnier Books Ltd Life: Poems to help navigate life’s many twists &
Book Synopsis*Donna Ashworth's new book Wild Hope is out September 2023*FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF I WISH I KNEWFor those looking for inspiration, peace and acceptance on the bumpy road that is life, Donna Ashworth's poems give insight into the enigmas of ageing, body image, family and the rapidly changing world around us.For every twist, turn and roadblock the journey has to offer, this collection provides relief to busy minds and dares us to live with a reckless abundance of joy.Readers are embracing Life- 'One of today's best poets.' ***** NetGalley- 'Donna's writing conveys so beautifully what it is to be human' ***** Amazon- 'Each time I read a poem and decide that is my favourite I turn the page and find another beautifully written, eloquent piece that resonates, comforts, and that makes you stop and reflect.' ***** Amazon- 'They are wonderful books to dip in and out of when you need inspiration, some advice, a hug, a friendly word.' ***** Amazon
£9.49
Faber & Faber Prufrock and Other Observations Poet to Poet An
Book SynopsisIncluded in Prufrock and Other Observations are the following poems:The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockPortrait of a LadyPreludesRhapsody on a Windy NightMorning at the WindowThe Boston Evening TranscriptAunt HelenCousin NancyMr. ApollinaxHysteriaConversation GalanteLa Figlia Che Piange
£8.54
Vintage Publishing Ballad of a Happy Immigrant
Book Synopsis'It isn't often that one encounters a sensibility so interested in our world - and so compelling in its powers of attentiveness. Leo Boix's poetry has a wide tilt and scope. It sings the doors open' Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic'They are sailors from another century, stalwart / captured on daguerrotype, casually masculine, tender of heart.'In the middle of the last century, the SS General Pueyrredón from Buenos Aires deposits Leo Boix's paternal grandfather on English soil for the first time. In the two years he spends there, he acquires a taste for his new homeland: from taking his tea white - muy blanco - to plunging into unfamiliar sensual worlds.So begins the poet's own journey, arriving in the United Kingdom as a young queer man. Ballad of a Happy Immigrant tells of the life he makes there: a dazzling collection of what it means to live, love and write between two cultures and traditions. Effortlessly moving between the English imagination and Spanish language, it is a boundless exploration of otherness and home, and the personal transformation that follows between 'loss / and a life / that starts anew.'*A Poetry Book Society Wild Card Choice*Trade ReviewIn Ballad of a Happy Immigrant Leo Boix demonstrates the power of a poem to move not just the mind but the body. These are supple, evocative, sensuous poems that ripple with life from a poet who can do in two languages what many of us struggle to do in one -- Kayo ChingonyiHere, dear readers, you will find charms and bees, crows and legends, much silence and even more truth-seeking. You will find immigrant's songs, and love whispers to the planet, all set to music that is as inimitable as it's lush. It isn't often that one encounters a sensibility so interested in our world - and so compelling in its powers of attentiveness. Leo Boix's poetry has a wide tilt and scope. It sings the doors open -- Ilya KaminskyAs well as having a subtle mastery of forms, Boix is playfully inventive -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian *Boix... has attempted something that few poets dare and even fewer achieve - to write in an adopted language... [he] handles words like a beachcomber, relishing them and experimenting with combinations and visual arrangements -- Angus Reid * Morning Star *
£9.50
Canongate Books Now And Then
Book SynopsisNow And Then is not merely a collection of a songwriter's lyrics; the song-poems of this undisputed 'bluesologist' triumphantly stand on their own, evoking the rhythm and urgency which have distinguished Gil Scott-Heron's career.This collection of poems carries the reader from the global topics of political hypocrisy and the dangers posed by capitalist culture to painfully personal themes and the realities of everyday life. His message is black, political, historically accurate, urgent, uncompromising and mature and as relevant now as ever.Trade ReviewSome of the funniest and most literate lyrics in all music . . . From deadpan attacks on racism to withering sarcasm about the Great Society; from Chomskian rants to parodies of media shallowness - every line comes coated in a sardonically witty turn of phrase * * Time Out * *Accessible, intelligent, rhythmic writing which makes poetry seem worthwhile again * * The List * *Praise for Gil Scott-Heron: Engaging and immensely human . . . Much like his poetry, Scott-Heron's style is spare and effective, offering up jagged observations on fame, friendship and political and racial injustice * * Independent on Sunday * *Scott-Heron is such a fine writer . . . As readers and fans alike, we are left to mourn the passing of surely, the least likely pop star ever, one with a truly brilliant mind * * Sunday Times * *Gil Scott-Heron is timeless * * New York Times * *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd You Don't Have What It Takes to Be My Nemesis:
Book Synopsis'A tremendous ball of fire hurled into the dark recesses of our world' Ocean Vuong'Radical . . . invites the reader to become an agent in a joint act of recovery' Tracy K. Smith'Psychotropic, visionary songs of love and defiance' Ralf Webb'Deeply informed by love, and a tenderness for the ravages and tumult of existence' Eileen Myles'Queer . . . gorgeous . . . just stunning' Joelle TaylorA captivating, original call for creative freedom from one of the most singular poets of our time'this mechanistic world . . . has required me to FIND MY BODY to FIND MY PLANET in order to find my poetry'Since their inception in 2005, CAConrad's (soma)tic poems have acted as an urgent appeal for an embodied, unfettered creative practice. Rooted in the Sanskrit 'soma', meaning 'to press and be newly born', and the Greek-derived 'somatic', relating to the body, Conrad's (soma)tic poetry reaches out from electrifying, esoteric rituals. Their methods are elaborate, and the results are unexpected: one, for instance, might begin by seeing the poet flood their body with the field calls of extinct animals - and end not only in a consideration of survivor's guilt and the destruction of ecosystems, but also in an elated sense of the presence, close at hand, of the many friends and lovers they lost to AIDS.Conrad draws on these rituals to enter a political, physical and spiritual state of consciousness, meditating on ecology, queerness and grief in powerful, dreamlike poetry that invites us to engage with the essence of things. This new selection is a testimony to poetry's capacity to reconnect us with the present moment and put an end to the alienation we feel: from our bodies, our surroundings, our planet.Trade ReviewCAConrad's poems invite the reader to become an agent in a joint act of recovery, to step outside of passivity and propriety and to become susceptible to the illogical and the mysterious -- Tracy K. SmithIn what is now the classic CAConrad mode of both exuberance and defiance, this book, like much of Conrad's epical body of work, is a tremendous ball of fire hurled into the dark recesses of our worlds (minds?). Luminous, sobering, but not without a capacious kindness in its ethos, this latest is a vibrant achievement from one of America's most legendary living poets -- Ocean VuongConjured in the extreme present, this is a vital addition to the global poetry canon. Through a lifetime of devotion to craft, Conrad has achieved an inventive and astonishing collection: a haunting, a prayer, a connection. They show how the ancient technology of poetry is between all things, living and not. Queer and gorgeous, filled with grief and belonging, a body within a body. Just stunning. I am dumb-struck -- Joelle TaylorCAConrad always argues (from the inside of their poems) for a poetry of radical inclusivity while keeping a very queer shoulder to the wheel. Their kind of queerness strikes me as nonpolarizing, not intentionally but because of the fullness of their exposition, a kind of gigantism that seems to me to be most deeply informed by love, and a tenderness for the ravages and tumult of existence -- Eileen MylesThese are psychotropic, visionary songs of love and defiance. CA celebrates poetry as a connecting force, a spell-work which binds us to the earth, animals, stars, and one another -- Ralf WebbCAConrad's work is as tough and as vulnerable as our bodies, as intricate and blunt as a flattened copper penny or a lily of the valley or the nests we'd build if we were birds. There's a love poem here for Jim Brodey, who once talked about poems bursting apart with 'extreme gracious information'. Right? Gleaming like a mineral in the contemporary nightmare, that's what this book is made of: through and through -- Luke RobertsI've been a fan of CAConrad's work from the beginning. There is always a necessary and vital life force at work in this poetry. This is a wondrous and essential selection of their noble life project -- Peter GizziAt a time when I don't always know how to make sense of what's going on, CAConrad serves as a cleareyed seer -- Jillian Steinhauer
£11.69
Peepal Tree Press Ltd Patterflash
Book SynopsisPatterflash embraces the performative, self-ironising aesthetic of campness but, as a mask, it is a complex and very malleable one, capable of showing features of tenderness, bravery, righteous anger and sometimes sadness and alarm – as well as the comedic. Within a collection that displays an engaging variety of language registers, both ‘high’ and ‘low’ in tone, the masking sometimes makes use of Polari, the gay street language that simultaneously reveals and conceals, excludes and invites, estranges and makes familiar. The collection connects the poet as a wry, humane observer of the scene, particularly as conducted in Manchester, and the persona of “Adam Lowe” as both actor in and narrator of his own dramas, who performs, exults and sometimes suffers in a wide range of guises and disguises. What unites them is the urge to embrace the possibilities of being exactly who you want to be whatever the complications or consequences of your choice. From the four-year-old boy who, though always easy in his mixedness of race, also wants to wear a blonde woman’s wig without any angst of self-contradiction, through the poems delighting in the frank physicality of gay sex, to the mature man experiencing domestic contentment, Adam Lowe takes us on a journey rich in observation and always in a poetry that makes an art of patterflash.Trade Review"A collection of ecstatic queer hymns that walk us through Leeds, through Manchester, with the unique laguage of being young and queer in the north.
£9.49
Arc Publications Time Begins to Hurt
Book Synopsis"The world of Little's poems is a dark one, for sure, where "the harm / the damage" we humans inflict - on the environment, on one another - is rendered unflinchingly. Her poems about family, for instance, make it clear that 'social distancing' is not just a phenomenon of the past two years. Love is present too, often inextricably bound up with the pain it can cause ("I keep loving you like an old bruise / still tender") but expressed in such rich and startling language, it is its own reward." Esther Morgan "Opening a book by Pippa Little I know I will find the kind of directness one can trust. There will be images that make the world of a page real... That is what Pippa Little does so well. And she does it with wide range, with different modes, various poetics... we find that the landscape therein is our solitude: however inventive it is also bare, like a person who cannot sleep and stares and stares all night at a blank wall. Which is to say, we recognize ourselves in these pages, our days, our questions. And the pages fortify. Why? Because they are honest." Ilya Kaminsky
£9.89
Andrews McMeel Publishing you are your own fairy tale
Book SynopsisGoodreads Choice Award-winning poet and bestselling author amanda lovelace presents the you are your own fairy tale series bound collection— a beautiful and empowering trilogy that proves the only thing needed for a happily ever after is yourself.this elegantly bound edition of amanda lovelace’s you are your own fairy tale trilogy includes all of the poems from break your glass slippers, shine your icy crown, & unlock your storybook heart that you fell in love with, as well as a new & never-before-seen introduction written by the author. you are your ownfairy tale is a must have for every lover of beautiful things & magical words.
£15.29
Andrews McMeel Publishing Self-Love for Small-Town Girls
Book SynopsisSelf-Love for Small Town Girls is an exciting offering from beloved bestselling author Lang Leav. A collection of stunning poetry and prose that seeks to define the loaded question of what it means to be a woman in the modern world.As women, we create lives with our bodies but often do not have autonomy over our own. We create worlds with our words yet struggle to be heard. Collectively, we yearn for the right to be treated with compassion and equity in our public and private spaces. The path to self-love is seldom a smooth one, especially for those who have further to travel. Self-Love for Small Town Girls is a book for anyone seeking the best and brightest version of themselves. Spanning decades of growth through self-analysis and introspection, Self-Love for Small Town Girls is Lang’s most personal and stunning collection to date.
£10.79
Vintage Publishing Autobiography of Red
Book SynopsisAnne Carson was born in Canada and has been a professor of Classics for over thirty years. Her awards and honours include the T. S. Eliot Prize, a Lannan Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Griffin Prize, on two occasions, fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2020.Trade ReviewLike all of Anne Carson's writing, this book is amazing - I haven't discovered any writing in years that's so marvellously disturbing. I just feel so happy that she's around -- Alice MunroHer work is full of moments of startling originality and beauty. The poems play with character and plot, myth and magic; they are rich with attitude and wit and the undertow of grief. If she was a prose writer she would instantly be recognised as a genius -- Colm Tóibín * Times Literary Supplement *Anne Carson has created, from fragments of the Greek poet Stesichoros, a profound love story...forty-seven compulsively readable long-lined poems of intense cinematic detail. Carson writes in language any poet would kill for: sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender, brilliantly lighted -- Ruth Padel * New York Times Book Review *Anne Carson is a daring, learned, unsettling writer. Autobiography of Red, which perhaps comes closest to representing the range of her voice and gifts, is a spellbinding achievement -- Susan Sontag
£13.50
Faber & Faber The Letters of Seamus Heaney
Book SynopsisA marvellous book, lovingly edited, beautifully produced. . . and brimming with literary insights, much laughter, a sprinkle of gossip and the poet's insuppressible joie de vivre, even in adversity. Buy it, read it, and keep it to hand on to your children.' John Banville, GuardianAn epistolary cornucopia. . . contains an abundance of insight and illumination, literary gossip and appraisal, playfulness and cogency, all bound up with a steadfast attention to the feelings and expectations of each correspondent.' Patricia Craig, TLS Books of the YearEvery now and again I need to get down here, to get into the Diogenes tub, as it were, or the Colmcille beehive hut, or the Mossbawn scullery. At any rate, a hedge surrounds me, the blackbird calls, the soul settles for an hour or two . . .For all his public eminence, Seamus Heaney seems never to have lost the compelling need to write personal letters. In this ample but discriminating selection from fifty years of his correspondence, we are given access as never before to the life and poetic development of a literary titan from his early days in Belfast, through his controversial decision to settle in the Republic, to the gradual broadening of horizons that culminated in the award of a Nobel Prize and the years of international acclaim that kept him heroically busy until his death.Editor Christopher Reid draws from both public and private archives to reveal this story in the poet's own words. Generous, funny, exuberant, confiding, irreverent, empathetic and deeply thoughtful, the letters encompass decades-long relationships with friends and colleagues, as well as showing an unstinted responsiveness to passing acquaintances. Moreover, Heaney's joyous mastery of language is as evident here as it is in any of his writing for a literary readership.Listening to Heaney's voice, we find ourselves in the same room as a man whose presence, when he lived, enriched the world immeasurably, and whose legacy continues to deepen our sense of what truly matters.
£32.00
Central Avenue Publishing Persephone Made Me Do It
Book SynopsisBestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-winning author Trista Mateer returns with another mythical approach to self-care in her newest poetry collection, Persephone Made Me Do It. Following her previous work in this series, Mateer weaves together mythology, tarot, poetry, and conversation to reveal a new side of a very old story. Alternating between the perspectives of poet and goddess, Persephone’s lore is explored, related to modern issues, and ultimately reclaimed.“You want to talk about duality? You want to talk about love? Let us speak instead of chaos.”In this new collection of art and feminist verse from Trista Mateer, Persephone might have flowers in her hair—but she is out for blood.
£12.71
Faber & Faber Selected Poems of Thom Gunn
Book SynopsisA beautifully produced collection of Thom Gunn's classic poetry, illuminated by insightful notes.
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Wade in the Water
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2018A New York Times Notable Book of 2018Even the men in black armor, the onesJangling handcuffs and keys, what elseAre they so buffered against, if not love''s bladeSizing up the heart''s familiar meat?In Wade in the Water, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith''s signature voice - inquisitive, lyrical and wry - turns over what it means to be a citizen, a mother and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men and violence. The various connotations of the title, taken from a spiritual once sung on the Underground Railroad which smuggled slaves to safety in 19th-century America, resurface throughout the book, binding past and present together. Collaged voices and documents recreate both the correspondence between slave owners and the letters sent home by African Americans enlisted in the US Civil War. Survivors'' reports attest to the exTrade ReviewSmith's new book is scorching in both its steady cognizance of America's original racial sins . . . and apprehension about history's direction. . . . These historical poems have a homely, unvarnished sort of grace * The New York Times *The poems in Wade in the Water are full of memorable images nimbly put together by Smith's exquisite sense of timing and her feel for the kind of language appropriate to the poem. * The New York Times Book Review *Smith brings great intelligence and sensitivity to her poems, leading readers deeper into other people's stories and ultimately into their own humanity. * The Washington Post *Smith's poetry is an awakening itself * Vogue *In lines that are as lyrical as they are wise . . . Smith makes connections between the current state of American culture and its history * BuzzFeed *Smith is the country's poetic caretaker, calling both for collective reckoning and collective empathy * The Atlantic *On a craft level, these poems are impeccable. . . . I know brilliance when I read it and this book is brilliant -- Roxane GayFor Smith, poetry is hospitable: accommodating whatever she is moved to write. Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof. . . . Smith emerges as a poet in charge of her own creation myth and a recorder of destructive realities * The Observer *Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof.... Excellent and bracing -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *Powerful and tender * Elle *Unmissable... a collection of poems exploring what it means to be a woman and a citizen in a culture directed by wealth, men and violence * Stylist *Personal and ambitious * Porter *
£10.44
Faber & Faber Sweeney Astray Faber Poetry
Book SynopsisSweeney Astray is Seamus Heaney''s version of the medieval Irish work Buile Suibhne - the first complete translation since 1913. Its hero, Mad Sweeney, undergoes a series of purgatorial adventures after he is cursed by a saint and turned into a bird at the Battle of Moira. The poetry spoken by the mad king, exiled to the trees and the slopes, is among the richest and most immediately appealing in the whole canon of Gaelic literature.Sweeney Astray not only restores to us a work of historical and literary importance but offers the genius of one of our greatest living poets to reinforce its claims on the reader of contemporary literature.
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group The Many Hundreds of the Scent
Book SynopsisA TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023''One of the most erudite and inventive poets of our time'' GuardianShane McCrae, one of the most powerful voices in contemporary poetry, returns with The Many Hundreds of the Scent, an urgent new collection that brims with lyric force. He expands both the poetic and the personal mythologies that he has been constructing over the course of his career; in addition to introducing his readers to ''the thin king / who eats the world,'' McCrae invites them to bear witness to his tangle of childhood memories. In brutal, sorrowful lines, he recounts being kidnapped by his white supremacist maternal grandparents from his Black father as a boy. ''O reader, listener, stay,'' McCrae writes. ''You are now evidence.''In The Many Hundreds of the Scent, Homeric figures mingle with those that populate the poet''s world. Helen weighs Paris''s spear in her hand and bloodies a raging Achilles; PenelTrade Review'In McCrae's hands, words are like tea leaves he will steep until every scent and flavour is extracted... This poet cannot be paraphrased; he must be read' * Guardian, Poetry Books of the Month *
£11.69
Andrews McMeel Publishing Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back
Book SynopsisSorry I haven’t texted you back, (I’ve been so anxious and depressed) I haven’t had time to catch my breath, you know how life gets!Returning to the form of Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately, Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back is a poetic mixtape dedicated to those who struggle or have struggled with their mental health. Divided into two parts, “Side A” holds 92 poems, titled as “tracks,” and “Side B” holds the “remixes,” or blackout-poetry versions, of those 92 poems. The book includes the evergreen themes of love, grief, and hope. Named after Cook’s viral Instagram poem, Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back lands in the crossroads of self-help and poetry.
£9.99
Two Rivers Press The Weather on the Moon
Book SynopsisTurning Manet on his head, entering the thoughts of a post prandial lion, viewing and buying a ‘snorting’ Hot Rod, imagining life on a modern-day Titanic, wondering what happens to the story after a book is finished or what a sonnet written by a modern day Shakespeare might look like, 'The Weather on the Moon' ranges across art, music, philosophy, literature and poetry, politics, history, science and the natural world to encounter what it’s like to be alive. Bubbling away throughout this intense, sometimes humorous, sometimes quirky, always compassionate poetry is a joy in language, its possibilities, and music. As Graham Hardie writes, his work ‘fuses many elements into one short space: pathos; wit; dexterous use of simile and metaphor; a heightened imagination; an ability to make poetry from the commonplace.’Trade Review‘The humanity of the poems lies in the “momentary turmoil” that for Robin Thomas characterizes life, and which his cast of real and imaginary characters share. History becomes a matter of moments – of awareness, suffering, injustice but also absurdity and beauty’ – Janice Dempsey; ‘The “homely” formal qualities of these well-made poems belie a mystery, a strangeness, a reckoning. The speaker at the end of “Danger Zone” advises us not to spend too long in a place of sanctuary: it’s amongst "the danger and delight of the world you need to be”’ – Julian Stannard;
£8.99
Burning Eye Books A New Game
Book SynopsisJemima Foxtrot’s highly anticipated A New Game whirls you through a world of vivid images, hedonism, memory and wonder as it celebrates and investigates the minutiae of everyday life. Full of wry humour and written with a bold elegance, Jemima Foxtrot proves that there is no subject that can’t inspire a poem. Foxtrot specialises in joy and this book makes you smile as much as it makes you think.
£8.99
Faber & Faber The Poetry of Derek Walcott 19482013
Book SynopsisThe Poetry of Derek Walcott 19482013 draws from every stage of the poet''s storied career. Here are examples of his very earliest work, like ''In My Eighteenth Year'', published when the poet himself was still a teenager; his first widely celebrated verse, like ''A Far Cry from Africa'', which speaks of violence, of loyalties divided in one''s very blood; his mature work, like ''The Schooner Flight'' from The Star-Apple Kingdom; and his late masterpieces, like the tender ''Sixty Years After'', from the 2010 collection White Egrets. Across sixty-five years, Walcott has grappled with the themes that have defined his work as they have defined his life: the unsolvable riddle of identity; the painful legacy of colonialism on his native Caribbean island of St Lucia; the mysteries of faith and love; the trauma of growing old, of losing friends, family, one''s own memory. This collection, selected by Walcott''s friend the poet Glyn Maxwell, will prove as enduri
£17.00
Faber & Faber Magnetic Field
Book SynopsisGrowing up in Marsden among the hills of West Yorkshire, Simon Armitage has always associated his early poetic experiences with the night-time view from his bedroom window, those private, moonstruck observations' and the clockwork comings and goings in the village providing rich subject matter for his first poems. Decades on, that window continues to operate as both framework and focal point for the writing, the vastness of the surrounding moors always at his shoulder and forming a constant psychological backdrop, no matter how much time has elapsed and how distant those experiences.Magnetic Field brings together Armitage's Marsden poems, from his very first pamphlet to new work from a forthcoming collection. It offers personal insight into a preoccupation that shows no signs of fading, and his perspective on a locality he describes as transcendent and transgressive', a genuinely unique region forming a frontier territory between many different worlds. Magnetic Fi
£11.69
Everyman Irish Poems
Book SynopsisWith its roots in the devotional verse of the early Christian church and the long lyric poems of the Irish bards, Irish poetry has a rich and robust tradition both of engagement and self-reflection. It has grappled long with politics and has provided the most eloquent response to Ireland's turbulent history, mediating and mitigating histories of loyalty and loss; it has soaked itself in the Irish landscape and Celtic myth; it has encompassed religion, so much a part of Ireland's cultural heritage. At the same time Irish poets have given their own original slant to everyday experience and affairs of the heart.Thematically organized and spanning many centuries, this selection also features a section of Gaelic poetry in translation, notably excerpts from the 18th-century epic masterpiece, Brian Merriman's The Midnight Court.
£10.80
Penguin Books Ltd My Poems Wont Change the World
Book Synopsis''Two hours ago I fell in love and trembled, and tremble still, and haven''t a clue whom I should tell''From one of the truly singular and beloved poets of contemporary Italy, these are poems of the self, the body, pasta, cats, the city and - always, and above all - love. This volume is the first substantial gathering of the best of Patrizia Cavalli''s work from her first six collections, from 1974 to 2006, translated by a selection of renowned poets. By turns thoughtful and sly, sensual and comic, charismatic and profound, these are works perfectly attuned to the pleasures and pains of everyday life and love.''The most intensely ethical poetry in Italian literature of the twentieth century'' Giorgio Agamben ''Amazingly fresh and surprising. The world does change, in the telling'' John AshberyEdited by Gini Alhadeff
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse 110 Poets on
Book SynopsisAn inspiring new selection of poems exploring faith and the divine, featuring poets from across the world, from antiquity to the present, compiled by renowned poet and author of Martyr!, Kaveh AkbarA Penguin ClassicPoets have always looked to the skies for inspiration, and have written as a way of getting closer to the power and beauty they sense in nature, in each other and in the cosmos. This anthology is a holistic and global survey of a lyric conversation about the divine, one which has been ongoing for millennia.Beginning with the earliest attributable author in all of human literature, the twenty-third century BC Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna, and taking in a constellation of voices - from King David to Lao Tzu, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Malian Epic of Sundiata - this selection presents a number of canonical voices like Blake, Dickinson and Tagore, alongside lesser-anthologized diverse voices going up to the presentTrade ReviewIf poetry is prayer, here are scriptures. Kaveh Akbar's brave, encompassing map of spiritual hunger shows us that longing belongs to all of us, whatever the languages we speak or the geographies we inhabit -- Jeet ThayilAn amazing collection of spiritual verse from many cultures and periods, from ancient Sumer in the third millennium BCE up to the present. There cannot be any other anthology that ranges so widely, and anyone concerned with either poetry or spirituality will want to own a copy -- John Barton * author of A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths *Wonderfully rich, this beautiful anthology of verse uniquely displays how humans over centuries and across continents have wrestled with the concept of the divine and, in turn, humanity's relationship with that divinity. From exaltation to lament, from reflections on beauty to explorations of science, these words draw the reader's eyes towards the wonder of the numinous. A delightful celebration of human creativity, with new insights from a trusted guide: Kaveh Akbar -- Chine McDonald * director of Theos and author of God Is Not a White Man: And Other Revelations *What an amazing compilation: beautifully edited, translated, introduced, this book is far more than a typical poetry anthology. What is it, then? It is our chance to overhear the splendid poet Kaveh Akbar whisper to himself words which he lives by, as he embarks on his own journey of spirit, loss, astonishment, bewilderment, and, perhaps, understanding. The chorus of voices gathered offer a balm, a consolation, a tune, in our desolate world -- Ilya Kaminsky * author of Deaf Republic *How can language approach the spiritual - that which remains unlanguaged - and trace the limen between the self and what it falls silent before? In The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse, Kaveh Akbar takes up this timeless inquiry with expansive curatorial shaping and heady joy, threading together Li Po and Adelia Prado, Hafez with Jabès, reverent with ludic, divine with corporeal, and everything that gets charged through, and between, them. Vibrating across this thick bundle of verse is the animation of the spirit enmeshed with the body, astounding in its ever-shifting forms, its irrepressible music. These poems "thin the partition between a person and a divine," and they do so sublimely: making porous the border between the self and all that beckons beyond understanding -- Jenny XieThe choices Kaveh Akbar has made for this anthology of spiritual verse are spectacularly excellent. They are from regions of poetry at once accessible and exalted, representing the most intense of human experiences, the experiences of the divine, the yearning for the holy. Multiple cultures are represented: texts of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Arabic speaking world, the Farsi speaking world, poets of Hindi and Urdu, poets from everywhere in Asia, Africa, Europe, as well as England and the USA. Here is a page of Lucretius, there a page of Dante (splendidly translated by Mary Jo Bang), and over there, Nazim Hikmet. There are several astonishing women, including Enheduanna, Mirabai, Gabriela Mistral. The book holds an embarrassment of riches, yet is light on its feet. You can easily carry it with you in an outside pocket of your knapsack. You too will be smitten by the yearning that animates and drives these poems. Akbar's Introduction, and his notes on individual poems, are extra added value: the words of a poet -- Alicia Ostriker * New York State Poet Laureate 2018-2021, author of the volcano and after:Selected and New Poems, 2002-2019 *Table of ContentsIntroductionEnheduanna, from ‘Hymn to Inanna’ Unknown, ‘Death of Enkidu’, from The Epic of Gilgamesh Unknown, from The Book of the Dead Unknown, Song of Songs, chapters 1 and 2 King David, Psalm 23 Homer, from The Odyssey Sappho, Fragments 22 and 118 Patacara, ‘When they plow their fields’ Lao Tzu, ‘Easy by Nature’, from Tao Te Ching Chandaka, Two Cosmologies Vyasa, from the Bhagavad Gita Lucretius, from The Nature of Things Virgil, from The Aeneid Shenoute, ‘Homily’ Sengcan, ‘The Mind of Absolute Trust’ From the Quran Kakinomoto Hitomaro, ‘In praise of Empress Jitō’ Li Po, ‘Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon’ Rabi’a al-Basri, ‘O my lord’ Ono No Komachi, ‘This inn’ Hanshan, ‘Hanshan’s Poem’ Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Khalawayh, ‘Names of the Lion’ Unknown, Anglo-Saxon charm Izumi Shikibu, ‘Things I Want Decided’ Li Qingzhao, ‘Late Spring’ Hildegard of Bingen, ‘Song to the Creator’ Mahadeviyakka, ‘I do not call it his sign’ Attar of Nishapur, ‘Parable of the Dead Dervishes in the Desert’ St Francis of Assisi, ‘Canticle of the Sun’ Wumen Huikai, from The Gateless Gate Rūmī, ‘Lift Now the Lid of the Jar of Heaven’ Mechthild of Magdeburg, ‘Of all that God has shown me’ Saadi Shirazi, ‘The Grass Cried Out’ Thomas Aquinas, ‘Lost, All in Wonder’ Moses de León, from The Sepher Zohar Dante Alighieri, from Inferno, Canto III from the Sundiata Hafez, Ghazal 17 Yaqui people, ‘Deer Song’ Nezahualcoyotl, ‘The Painted Book’ Kabir, ‘Brother, I’ve seen some’ Mirabai, ‘O friend, understand’ Yoruba people, from A Recitation of Ifa Teresa of Ávila, ‘Laughter Came from Every Brick’ Gaspara Stampa, ‘Deeply repentant of my sinful ways’ St John of the Cross, ‘O Love’s living flame’ Mayan people, from the Popol Vuh Christopher Marlowe, from Faustus William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146 John Donne, ‘Batter my heart, three-person’d God’ Nahuatl people, ‘The Midwife Addresses the Woman’ George Herbert, ‘Easter Wings’ Walatta Petros/Gälawdewos, from The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros John Milton, from Paradise Lost, Book 4 Bashō, ‘Death Song’ and ‘In Kyoto’ Juana Inés de la Cruz, ‘Suspend, singer swan, the sweet strain’ Yosa Buson, ‘A solitude’ Olaudah Equiano, ‘Miscellaneous Verses’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ‘Wanderer’s Nightsong II’ Phillis Wheatley, ‘On Virtue’ William Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Kobayashi Issa, ‘All the time I pray to Buddha’ John Clare, ‘I Am!’ John Keats, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ Mirza Ghalib, ‘For the Raindrop’ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘Grief’ Frederick Douglass, ‘A Parody’ Emily Dickinson, ‘I prayed, at first, a little Girl’ Uvavnuk, ‘The Great Sea’ Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘God’s Grandeur’ Rabindranath Tagore, ‘The Temple of Gold’ Constantine Cavafy, ‘Body, Remember’ W. B. Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’ Rainer Maria Rilke, ‘The Second Duino Elegy’ Muhammad Iqbal, ‘These are the days of lightning’ Yosano Akiko, ‘To punish’ Sarojini Naidu, ‘In the Bazaars of Hyderabad’ Delmira Agustini, ‘Inextinguishables’ Gabriela Mistral, ‘The Return’ Anna Akhmatova, from ‘Requiem’ Osip Mandelstam, ‘O Lord, help me to live through this night’ Edith Södergran, ‘A Life’ Marina Tsvetaeva, from Poems to Czechia María Sabina, from ‘The Midnight Velada’ Xu Zhimo, ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’ Federico García Lorca, ‘Farewell’ Nâzim Hikmet, ‘Things I Didn’t Know I Loved’ Léopold Sédar Senghor, ‘Totem’ Faiz Ahmed Faiz, ‘Before You Came’ Czesław Miłosz, ‘Dedication’ Edmond Jabès, ‘At the Threshold of the Book’ Aimé Césaire, from Notebook of a Return to the Native Land Octavio Paz, ‘Brotherhood: Homage to Claudius Ptolemy’ Oodgeroo Noonuccal, ‘God’s One Mistake’ Paul Celan, ‘There was Earth in Them’ Paul Laraque, ‘Rainbow’ Nazik Al-Malaika, ‘Love Song for Words’ Wisława Szymborska, ‘Astonishment’ Zbigniew Herbert, ‘The Envoy of Mr Cogito’ Yehuda Amichai, ‘A Man in His Life’ Ingeborg Bachmann, ‘Every Day’ Kim Nam-Jo, ‘Foreign Flags’ Kamau Brathwaite, ‘Bread’ Adonis, ‘The New Noah’ Christopher Okigbo, ‘Come Thunder’ Ingrid Jonker, ‘There Is Just One Forever’ Jean Valentine, ‘The River at Wolf’ Kofi Awoonor, ‘At the Gates’ Adélia Prado, ‘Dysrhythmia’ Lucille Clifton, ‘my dream about God’ Vénus Khoury-Ghata, from She Says Mahmoud Darwish, ‘I Didn’t Apologize to the Well’ M. NourbeSe Philip, from Zong! Inrasara, from Allegory of the Land Sources Acknowledgements Index of First Lines Index of Titles
£11.69
Faber & Faber Selected Poems of Derek Walcott
Book SynopsisThis new Selected Poems offers an ordered retrospective of the fertile career of Derek Walcott, spanning six decades and drawing on twelve collections. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992, Walcott has, in the words of Seamus Heaney, ''moved with gradually deepening confidence to found his own poetic domain, independent of the tradition he inherited yet not altogether orphaned from it.''
£15.29
Faber & Faber New Selected Poems of W. S. Graham
Book SynopsisGraham's New Collected Poems (2004) marked a crucial point in the growth of his reputation, bringing together for the first time all the poems of his seven collections as well as some of the unpublished material that had come to light since his death in 1986.
£13.49
Orion Publishing Co And Yet
Book SynopsisFrom Kate Baer, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Kind of Woman, comes her much anticipated second full-length traditional poetry collection, And Yet.I will love and be loved. Save and be saveda thousand times. I will let the want intomy body, bless the heat under my skin.My life, I will not waste it. I will enjoy this life.And Yet dives even deeper into the themes that are the hallmarks of Kate''s writing: motherhood, friendship, love, and loss. Taken together, these poems demonstrate the remarkable evolution of a writer and an artist working at the height of her craft, pushing herself and her poetry in a beautiful and impressive way.In this collection, Kate offers much needed inspiration to find the joy, and the hope, in all of life''s mess and miracles.
£13.49
Andrews McMeel Publishing The Truth of You: Poetry About Love, Life, Joy,
Book SynopsisThis is the truth of you.Because you are all I see.Because you are all I breathe.Because when I cannot find you, I am lost.Because when I’m with you, I am found.Because you have the fire of the universe in you, and sometimes you forget.So this book is here to remind you.Dear You, I want you to know that I see you. I want you to know that even if no one else does, even if you are a ghost in this bookshop, or just the static floating across the screen of your computer, wherever you’re reading this, I see you. I see you in the dark and I see you in the grey. I see you as a story, as words I have spoken or may yet speak. Maybe only in a memory or a dream. I see your hands and your arms and your body and your legs and your face and I see what you have been and what you will be. I see you and in looking at you, I want you to know that whoever you’ve had to be to survive all this, I will not look away. I want you to know that there’s a space inside this book for you. So if you have the time and the inclination, you can sit here with me, just for a while. And perhaps between us, we can see everything that matters. -pleasefindthis
£9.49
