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When It Rained for a Million Years
Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry
An Observer Book of the Year
A family cohabits with a horse; three riots are tucked up safely in their beds; a tumbleweed takes up a career in comedy; the giant flag crossing a football crowd has a strange effect on those underneath; a rampaging fifty-foot poem brings terror to a city . . . As always in Paul Farley’s work, the quotidian and the cosmic are braided together in surprising, funny, or disconcerting ways. And as always, his poems inhabit and explore intermediate, uncertain spaces; a Farley poem may be filled with recognisable objects and events, but is always alert to wider resonances. When It Rained for a Million Years represents a new stage of development in the poet’s work, while exemplifying his unwavering faith in the music and shape of language, and in the power of metaphorical transformation in the various ways elegy, monologue and the pastoral navigate and intersect with our anxious, brittle age.
'Farley's strength, throughout his career, is the delicacy of his poems' music, their soft lighting and good humour, and this book is no exception' – Poetry Book Society Bulletin
'A gift for making the mundane seem magical' – Observer
An Observer Book of the Year
A family cohabits with a horse; three riots are tucked up safely in their beds; a tumbleweed takes up a career in comedy; the giant flag crossing a football crowd has a strange effect on those underneath; a rampaging fifty-foot poem brings terror to a city . . . As always in Paul Farley’s work, the quotidian and the cosmic are braided together in surprising, funny, or disconcerting ways. And as always, his poems inhabit and explore intermediate, uncertain spaces; a Farley poem may be filled with recognisable objects and events, but is always alert to wider resonances. When It Rained for a Million Years represents a new stage of development in the poet’s work, while exemplifying his unwavering faith in the music and shape of language, and in the power of metaphorical transformation in the various ways elegy, monologue and the pastoral navigate and intersect with our anxious, brittle age.
'Farley's strength, throughout his career, is the delicacy of his poems' music, their soft lighting and good humour, and this book is no exception' – Poetry Book Society Bulletin
'A gift for making the mundane seem magical' – Observer
- GenresAudiobook
82 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 13, 2025
17 people want to read
About the author
Paul Farley
23 books14 followersPaul Farley is the author of four collections of poetry and has received the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Whitbread Poetry Award and the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 24, 2025
Yeah it's fantastic
June 29, 2025
I liked the author's mini introductions before each poem. The flow while recording it and his accent made this perfect to listen to while calming down and relaxing.
I would recommend this audiobook to people who don't claim to be poetry fans but secretly are (like me)
I would recommend this audiobook to people who don't claim to be poetry fans but secretly are (like me)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews