Description
Book SynopsisA number of years back, our author went to seek out a book by some ancient Greek thinker - the name starting with an L, or perhaps a C - called On Delight of the Nature of Things, or maybe In Delight at the Nature of Things. Either way, it turned out the book didn't exist. Our author found lots of stuff on measuring the circumference and mass of the planet Earth, and lots of pages about salt, dirt and water, but not the book that she was looking for. So, in the end, she decided to write the book herself. And here it is, or at least a start on it: eighty-five everyday objects, concerns and states scrutinised, given a voice really, and which together make up On Delight of the Nature of Things, or In Delight at the Nature of Things, or, more simply, Santiago.
Trade Review'Idiosyncratic, bright as new paint, at times enigmatic, at times as clear as water, Cheryl Follon's Santiago is a collection - are they prose poems? are they vignettes? - unexpected and colourful as contemporary life, vivid with dailiness, packed with unusual but strangely accessible ways of looking. It is a world in which a museum sapphire, considering, or a well's surface reflecting the faces of onlookers, have things to say to us, and in which subjects various as blood, Hanoi, a grasshopper, and an exquisitely bored Sultan mingle in enlivening juxtaposition. In a poetry culture frequently hamstrung by political correctness and a sense of the worthy it is also, that increasingly rare thing, an entertaining book.' - Gerry Cambridge
Table of ContentsInsomnia 9 Blood 10 Brogues 11 New York 12 Negativity 13 Fate 14 Lightbulb 15 Couch 16 Digital Clock Display 17 Sugar 18 Sultan 19 Contrariness 20 Moth 21 Manners 22 Air Con 23 Novels 24 Canoeing 25 Croissant 26 Boredom 27 Russian Doll 28 Grimm Tales 29 Magnesium 30 Amulet 31 Comma 32 Pineapple 33 Time Difference 34 Dutch Cuisine 35 Airline Food 36 Ear Canal 37 Sea Anemone 38 Netball 39 Socks 40 Hanoi 41 Tree 42 Snow 43 Paper Flowers 44 Creme Caramel 45 Python 46 Shyness 47 Patience 48 Fame 49 Geneva 50 Memories 51 Pretzel 52 Loneliness 53 Making Do 54 Sculpture 55 Ripples 56 Brain 57 Octopus 58 Light 59 Rain 60 Fire 61 Istanbul 62 Anxiety 63 Luck 64 TV 65 Sapphire 66 Hormones 67 Iceland 68 Cartoonist 69 Water 70 Shadows 71 Homesickness 72 Grasshopper 73 Knife 74 Dust Motes 75 Jealousy 76 Heartbreak 77 Fly 78 Sand 79 Lion 80 Surgery 81 Radio Waves 82 Butter 83 Oxygen 84 Addiction 85 Forgetfulness 86 Sleep 87 Bluebeard 88 Minneapolis 89 Wedding 90 Fashion 91 Tattoo 92 Santiago 93
