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Emma’s first full collection from Offa’s Press is a closely observed, wonderfully humane study of a community somewhere in the Black Country. As one reader noted, ‘there’s something for everyone to identify with in these poems… brilliant, sharp and subtle observations of local daily life’.
64 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2020
The Shrewsbury Festival of Literature between the 22nd and 24th of November 2019 held two poetry corners over its twelve events this year. At the Poetry Café on Sunday morning, we were treated to three women Black Country poets with very different styles: Nellie Cole, Kuli Kohli and Emma Purshouse.
All three presented excerpts of their work from their latest publications with Offa’s Press, a small independent publisher ‘dedicated to publishing and promoting the best in contemporary West Midland poetry and poets’, as their site declares, featuring a couple of dozen booklets from poets in Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire, as well as clips of performances. ‘Good on the page and good on stage’ is their motto, and not without justification, as the brief morning session demonstrated.
Last on the rostrum was Black Country poet Emma Purshouse with her collection called Close (as in ‘near’ or ‘cul-de-sac’), the title both symbolic of community and of nowhere to go, the warp and weft of her poems. Emma’s poetry is not merely inflected with the Brummie accent, it is saturated, steeped in it. Emma uses complaint as the raw material of comedy.
She launched into a selection of her poetry, giving us the full curves of her delivery in the distinctive vernacular, the canals of the Black Country being a standout theme, of life on the ‘cut’. ‘Two Sides of the cut’ is a rap of the story of the life of a canal, harking back to the days of glory and productivity, then reflecting on the plethora of incident and accident along its course and time. It is grim, and chock with humanity. In ‘Use nor ornament’ (p.18), the poem, shaped like a candlestick, humorously looks at a neighbour’s objects reminiscing about their former usefulness - a satirical commentary on long-term unemployment and redundancy. Emma’s acute observations of her community show the thorns as well as the flowers, the light and the dark.
Emma, a consummate performer, ended her roistering session with a rap (Art school annual picnic) on a host of historic artists, whose work we revere, but at whose limerick reductions we laughed and laughed.
All three presented excerpts of their work from their latest publications with Offa’s Press, a small independent publisher ‘dedicated to publishing and promoting the best in contemporary West Midland poetry and poets’, as their site declares, featuring a couple of dozen booklets from poets in Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire, as well as clips of performances. ‘Good on the page and good on stage’ is their motto, and not without justification, as the brief morning session demonstrated.
Last on the rostrum was Black Country poet Emma Purshouse with her collection called Close (as in ‘near’ or ‘cul-de-sac’), the title both symbolic of community and of nowhere to go, the warp and weft of her poems. Emma’s poetry is not merely inflected with the Brummie accent, it is saturated, steeped in it. Emma uses complaint as the raw material of comedy.
She launched into a selection of her poetry, giving us the full curves of her delivery in the distinctive vernacular, the canals of the Black Country being a standout theme, of life on the ‘cut’. ‘Two Sides of the cut’ is a rap of the story of the life of a canal, harking back to the days of glory and productivity, then reflecting on the plethora of incident and accident along its course and time. It is grim, and chock with humanity. In ‘Use nor ornament’ (p.18), the poem, shaped like a candlestick, humorously looks at a neighbour’s objects reminiscing about their former usefulness - a satirical commentary on long-term unemployment and redundancy. Emma’s acute observations of her community show the thorns as well as the flowers, the light and the dark.
Emma, a consummate performer, ended her roistering session with a rap (Art school annual picnic) on a host of historic artists, whose work we revere, but at whose limerick reductions we laughed and laughed.
June 26, 2024
I purchased 2 of Emma’s books from an event at Doncaster Brewery Tap, and they are excellent! Thoroughly enjoyable with everyday imagery turned into something else entirely. Particularly enjoyed the inanimate objects opinions and the overheard conversations.
August 16, 2022
Brilliant collection of poems covering a range of topics.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews