Description
Book SynopsisIn Bloodlines Andy Brown turns his attention to the subjects of medicine and the human body, treating them with the lyricism, imaginative range and formal agility for which his poetry has become widely known. The poems in part one, Shifting Shape, offer more personal narratives, while the poems of part two, Bloodlines, explore the longer lines of medical history, through medical paintings, sculptures and translated versions from Spanish. There are also several lively versions of medical scenes from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and a number of poems that focus on disease, hygiene and sanitation.
Trade Review`A love of language and willingness to play with music, meaning and the reader’s expectations and perceptions.’ Poetry Review
Table of ContentsI. Public Speaking 1 Genetics 3 Berserk 4 The Splinter 5 Shield Bugs 6 Keystones 7 Committal 8 Twins 9 Public Speaking 11 i. Public Speaking 11 ii. Paring 13 iii. The Vacuum 14 iv. The Shunt 15 v. Nightlights 16 Excision 17 On Septicaemia 18 Skin Tag 19 Some Sayings About the Hand 20 Self Portrait at Fifty 21 A Story About Teeth 23 II. Bloodlines 25 Homo naledi 27 Human Anatomy Classes 28 i. Écorché 28 ii. The Crowd 30 iii. Anatomy for the Blind 31 iv. Birthing Machine 32 v. A Sick Lady and Her Doctor, 1657 33 vi. Human Anatomy Classes 34 Bloodlines 35 i. Two Mongrels 35 ii. Bedlam 36 iii. Arthur Coga 37 iv. Which Part is Man? 38 A Doctour of Phisik 39 Hospitals 41 A Blind Man 43 I, Me, Myself 44 The Wounded Child 45 Cremation 46 A Villanelle in Varanasi 48 A Wife Advises Her Husband on His Dreams 49 Bald’s Leechbook 50 Acute Myocardial Infarction 51 Surgery Operation 52 Snake Oil 53 Five Noses 54 i. Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) 54 ii. Tycho’s Nose 55 iii. Taliacotius’s Noses 56 iv. A Leap-Year Nose 57 v. Body Poetic 58 The Pardoner’s Tale 59 i. To a Doctor 59 ii. The Ballad of Gallipot Lane 60 The Broad Street Pump 62 from Watersong 63 i. Ballad of the Coroner 63 ii. Ballad of the Sexton 64 iii. Bury Fields 66 The Unnameable Taxonomy 67 The Flying Toilets of Kibera 69
