Working Animals

by Liam Bates

Liam Bates poetry is cynical and louche, his pamphlet Working Animals explores how fauna, typically pests: spiders, wasps, gnats and maggots are all present, intersect unhelpfully with a world we believe to be our own but is not our own. Liam Bates is a fresh and frequently delightful poet of the anthropocene, whose words crawl under your skin and, when you’re least expecting, bite.

34 pages, Paperback

Published June 17, 2020

About the author

Liam Bates is a poet originally from the Black Country. His poems have been published by various publications including Ambit, Abridged and Anthropocene and have been commended or shortlisted in competitions by Magma, Bridport Prize, and Creative Future. He was awarded a Northern Writers' Award for Poetry in 2023. His debut full-length collection, Human Townsperson, is available from Broken Sleep Books.

Reviews

[Giada Nizzoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry collection shines a light onto the most absurd moments of everyday life that are, sadly, widely accepted as the norm, from forcing ourselves to have fun at a funfair to realising that our huge blocks of flats aren't that different from battery cages.
It manages to be unsettling and yet fascinating at the same time, and you put down the book knowing that you're not the only one to feel so alienated at the workplace or society in general. Excellent collection!

[Barbara Valentini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Liam Bates's poetry hits, in fact punches, the mark on so many levels - this pamphlet proves it continues to grow, deepen and refine. It flows but trips you into internal shrieks and gasps, as you recognise the shared experiences of ordinary accidents - there shouldn't be poetry in these, but Liam unveils it. His observations will unsettle you and make you think; his choice of words will fill your mouth and defy your brain; the rhythm of his poetry will mesmerise you. The lives of common insects and other animals is a particular triumph as a metaphor for, or indeed a parallel with our urban lives: Working Animals will dare you to look at yourself and reconsider how you think of the apparently insignificant, the miniscule, the one of many, the voiceless, the squashable and pedestrian. Because there is life in those too. I loved it and highly recommend it!

[Paula Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding poems, of which I have gone back to, over and over; each time I read or feel something new. I particularly love 'assembly' it is so familiar and real.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting, and slightly sinister collection of poems, reflecting on isolation, work, mortality, and, well, insects and mice. Not for the squeamish.

[Liam Bates]

It's my book and I think it's pretty great.