Bedtime

by Clare Pollard

Clare Pollard wrote her first book The Heavy-Petting Zoo while still at school. Its sequel is a setting for intimacy and tenderness as well as cruelty and pretence, where reality and fantasy are blurred. These are cutting poems from the edge, confronting evil in all its manifestations, especially the bondage of sex and cruelty. They address highly contemporary issues, from confessionalism and reality TV to masculinity in crisis, racial politics and atheism.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

And Desire Shall fail

The belly sickens, but the heart is never full,
because there are a thousand mouths inside our blood.
You cannot fight this needy drag; the self's old pull.

Even champagne when it's attained can become dull —
every desire, when it's fulfilled, becomes a dud.
The belly sickens, but the heart is never full.

What we demand — more things, more love — is pitiful.
Though we are well-off, healthy, sheltered, understood —
we do not fight this needy drag; the self's old pull.

And though sometimes romance can briefly pull the wool,
temptation brings us back to ourselves with a thud.
The belly sickens, but the heart is never full.

The heart's a tyrant that won't tolerate a lull.
Look at our luck: no war, no famine and no flood,
yet there's no one who can resist the self's old pull.

There's no enough that enough days cannot annul,
and though you may be kind, and liberal, and good,
you will not fight this needy drag; the self's old pull.
The belly sickens, but the heart is never full.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Perhaps a bit too much... Too saturated by the more crass, obvious and slightly cumbersome poems, is my feeling.

Nevertheless, the collection is, overall, enjoyable and light-hearted, with an eclectic blend of periods, approaches and poetic styles.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes the rough and the cruel and turns it into beauty. Raw but finely crafted. A British poet to watch.