Description

Book Synopsis

Plainspeak is the highly anticipated second collection by Astrid Alben, following her acclaimed debut Ai! Ai! Pianissimo. In these startling poems, readers will experience Alben’s unorthodox alter-ego-thinking-out-louder approach with the same exhilaration as they might engage with art or jazz. The poems in Plainspeak deal with place, ancestral ties, solitude, flight, insomnia and the embattled absurdities of daily life.

Alben plays with formal boundaries, linguistic identity and the lyrical poetic voice, writing with rhythmic vitality and visual imagination. The poems tell multiple narratives whilst retaining the freedom of abstraction; they are supple and precise, each one an installation evoking different aspects of a particular theme.

Plainspeak reinvents play and logic, is poignant and humorous, absurd and anguished: a book for and of the times we live in.

Plainspeak

    Product form

    A Paperback / softback by Astrid Alben, Zigmunds Lapsa

    £10.80

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £12.00 – you save £1.20 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 29 Sep 2026.

    3 in stock

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of Plainspeak by Astrid Alben

      Book details

      Publisher Prototype Publishing Ltd.
      Published 18 November 2019
      ISBN-13 9781916052024
      978-1916052024
      ISBN-10 1916052029
      Also in:
      Installation art Psychology: the self, ego, identity, personality

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Plainspeak is the highly anticipated second collection by Astrid Alben, following her acclaimed debut Ai! Ai! Pianissimo. In these startling poems, readers will experience Alben’s unorthodox alter-ego-thinking-out-louder approach with the same exhilaration as they might engage with art or jazz. The poems in Plainspeak deal with place, ancestral ties, solitude, flight, insomnia and the embattled absurdities of daily life.

      Alben plays with formal boundaries, linguistic identity and the lyrical poetic voice, writing with rhythmic vitality and visual imagination. The poems tell multiple narratives whilst retaining the freedom of abstraction; they are supple and precise, each one an installation evoking different aspects of a particular theme.

      Plainspeak reinvents play and logic, is poignant and humorous, absurd and anguished: a book for and of the times we live in.

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account