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how to extricate yourself
Description:
What would it be like to be a writer in residence on the moon? Or to wake up with hair made out of spiders? To move in with a dragon? Or to raise a demon baby by accident? Simultaneously dark and funny, these poems let the reader escape into the realm of the imagination and the fantastical. Unafraid of asking ‘what if…’, the poems’ various speakers and narrative voices try to make sense of their narrowing world and sleepless nights through self-deception and make-believe, spells and incarnations, peeks into the possibilities of other worlds and lives.
The poems in this collection have won or been shortlisted for the Acumen Poetry Prize, the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, three consecutive Live Canon International Poetry Awards, the Hammond House Award, the Yeovil Prize, the Wirral Poetry Festival Competition, the Blue Nib Chapbook Contest, the Yaffle Prize, the Charroux Prize and the Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize judged by Jackie Kay.
Praise:
"No one else does weird and tender quite like Laura Theis."
- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Grabbed me not just for the overall quality from poem to poem but also from line to line... I could have read these poems all night and still have read some more."
- Paul McGrane, who selected the book as the winner of the 2020 Brian Dempsey Memorial Pamphlet Prize
"A witty and playful collection from a gifted poet who blends delicate lyricism with candid confession. An engaging and fresh new voice."
- Anna Saunders, 2020 Wirral Prize Judge & CEO of Cheltenham Poetry Festival
“In these poems which sing and see from a distance, Laura Theis is in complete control of tone – never forced or rushed... It is a book of entrances and exits - the astronaut's wife, a lover on the moon – reports from a world where jellyfish are admirable, space and distance present both in the barely punctuated lines and between partner and partner. These poems are resourceful and magical, tracing infinity 'the way bees love to eat / honey but also make honey.'“
- Matt Bryden, Judge of the 2020 Charroux Prize
“How to Extricate Yourself combines vivid narrative, seriousness and delight in language that moves easily between wry imaginative energy and resonant pathos. This is a debut collection of admirable wit and invention, and introduces Laura Theis – already a successful fiction writer - as a poet of distinctive new voice.”
- Jane Draycott, University of Oxford and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
What would it be like to be a writer in residence on the moon? Or to wake up with hair made out of spiders? To move in with a dragon? Or to raise a demon baby by accident? Simultaneously dark and funny, these poems let the reader escape into the realm of the imagination and the fantastical. Unafraid of asking ‘what if…’, the poems’ various speakers and narrative voices try to make sense of their narrowing world and sleepless nights through self-deception and make-believe, spells and incarnations, peeks into the possibilities of other worlds and lives.
The poems in this collection have won or been shortlisted for the Acumen Poetry Prize, the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, three consecutive Live Canon International Poetry Awards, the Hammond House Award, the Yeovil Prize, the Wirral Poetry Festival Competition, the Blue Nib Chapbook Contest, the Yaffle Prize, the Charroux Prize and the Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize judged by Jackie Kay.
Praise:
"No one else does weird and tender quite like Laura Theis."
- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
"Grabbed me not just for the overall quality from poem to poem but also from line to line... I could have read these poems all night and still have read some more."
- Paul McGrane, who selected the book as the winner of the 2020 Brian Dempsey Memorial Pamphlet Prize
"A witty and playful collection from a gifted poet who blends delicate lyricism with candid confession. An engaging and fresh new voice."
- Anna Saunders, 2020 Wirral Prize Judge & CEO of Cheltenham Poetry Festival
“In these poems which sing and see from a distance, Laura Theis is in complete control of tone – never forced or rushed... It is a book of entrances and exits - the astronaut's wife, a lover on the moon – reports from a world where jellyfish are admirable, space and distance present both in the barely punctuated lines and between partner and partner. These poems are resourceful and magical, tracing infinity 'the way bees love to eat / honey but also make honey.'“
- Matt Bryden, Judge of the 2020 Charroux Prize
“How to Extricate Yourself combines vivid narrative, seriousness and delight in language that moves easily between wry imaginative energy and resonant pathos. This is a debut collection of admirable wit and invention, and introduces Laura Theis – already a successful fiction writer - as a poet of distinctive new voice.”
- Jane Draycott, University of Oxford and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- GenresPoetry
54 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2020
8 people want to read
About the author
Laura Theis
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Laura Theis writes poems, stories and songs in her second language, received a Distinction from Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing and has been published in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Germany, Canada and the U.S. Her work appears in journals such as Poetry, Mslexia, Magma, Rattle, and Strange Horizons, and anthologies by Candlestick Press, Broken Sleep Books, PanMacmillan, and Aesthetica, amongst many others. Her Elgin-Award-nominated debut 'how to extricate yourself’, an Oxford Poetry Library Book-of-the-Month, won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Prize. She was the recipient of the Society of Authors’ Arthur Welton Award, the AM Heath Prize, EAL Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, Mogford Prize, Hammond House International Literary Award, the Alpine Fellowship and a Forward Prize nomination. A runner-up for the Mairtin Crawford Award, she was shortlisted for the Women Poets’ Prize, the Bridport Prize, the Margaret Reid Poetry Prize, the Hippocrates Prize and a finalist for numerous other literary awards including the National Poetry Competition and the BBC Short Story Award.
https://www.livecanon.co.uk/store/pro...
Laura Theis writes poems, stories and songs in her second language, received a Distinction from Oxford University’s MSt in Creative Writing and has been published in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Germany, Canada and the U.S. Her work appears in journals such as Poetry, Mslexia, Magma, Rattle, and Strange Horizons, and anthologies by Candlestick Press, Broken Sleep Books, PanMacmillan, and Aesthetica, amongst many others. Her Elgin-Award-nominated debut 'how to extricate yourself’, an Oxford Poetry Library Book-of-the-Month, won the Brian Dempsey Memorial Prize. She was the recipient of the Society of Authors’ Arthur Welton Award, the AM Heath Prize, EAL Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize, Mogford Prize, Hammond House International Literary Award, the Alpine Fellowship and a Forward Prize nomination. A runner-up for the Mairtin Crawford Award, she was shortlisted for the Women Poets’ Prize, the Bridport Prize, the Margaret Reid Poetry Prize, the Hippocrates Prize and a finalist for numerous other literary awards including the National Poetry Competition and the BBC Short Story Award.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 28, 2020
I was blown away by how sophisticated and loaded the poems in this book were. Each one feels more than a poem—like it’s a whole story neatly packed onto one page, sometimes even just a few lines.
The thing that made my heart squeal with excitement was the way Laura used fantasy and dark elements in her poems, weaving them alongside modern images and experiences. It’s a beautiful balance!
“Aurae”, “Raising Astaroth”, & “On Working In A Shop” are my favorites. “Aurae” is just a beautiful piece that has the right touch of magic and beauty. “Raising Astaroth” is a dark piece that takes a twist on looking at that ‘darkness’ in a different way. (I also just love dark poems & stories.) “On Working In A Shop” combines a modern situation with just a bit of borderline madness to it & I love it!
“how to extricate yourself” is a much shorter book than some of the others I’ve read but it really does leave an impression with each poem. It makes it feel like I’ve read about 100 poems when I’ve probably only read about half that.
But it was such an enjoyable ride! Laura really has a wonderful, complex style to her poems & she even utilizes no punctuation in a way that isn’t difficult to settle into.
Overall, it’s a wonderful read!
The thing that made my heart squeal with excitement was the way Laura used fantasy and dark elements in her poems, weaving them alongside modern images and experiences. It’s a beautiful balance!
“Aurae”, “Raising Astaroth”, & “On Working In A Shop” are my favorites. “Aurae” is just a beautiful piece that has the right touch of magic and beauty. “Raising Astaroth” is a dark piece that takes a twist on looking at that ‘darkness’ in a different way. (I also just love dark poems & stories.) “On Working In A Shop” combines a modern situation with just a bit of borderline madness to it & I love it!
“how to extricate yourself” is a much shorter book than some of the others I’ve read but it really does leave an impression with each poem. It makes it feel like I’ve read about 100 poems when I’ve probably only read about half that.
But it was such an enjoyable ride! Laura really has a wonderful, complex style to her poems & she even utilizes no punctuation in a way that isn’t difficult to settle into.
Overall, it’s a wonderful read!
Displaying 1 of 1 review