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Stranger
In the poetry collection 'Stranger' we journey from people to places, visiting creatures, objects and conditions, all of which are odd, slightly off-kilter, seen from an unusual perspective. Linguistically deft and formally inventive, the poems challenge us to reflect on the stranger in our midst, conceptions of social and personal estrangement, the strangeness of everyday life, and what we might take to be apparitions. With sections introduced by translations of Chinese Sung Dynasty poetry, the poems move between brief apercus and longer meditations. Original, haunting, alive to our current global situation, even at their most oneiric, these are inventive poems brimming with integrity from a distinctive voice.
81 pages, Paperback
First published December 15, 2020
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July 22, 2021
Shortlisted for the Rubery Book Award 2021
An assured voice pervades this collection, which explores the idea of strangeness in various ways: places, people, creatures, objects, and conditions. Places include 'The World's Neck', where the poet navigates the Bering Strait, feeling his own insignificance in the midst of nature. The People section includes the 'brawling' 'Jimmy the Pig', who is violent, racist, and 'racked with resolution', and 'Pushover', an old drunk who's assaulted by a young 'bruiser' in a way that becomes symbolic of 'generational defeat'. Strange Creatures includes wonderfully rendered Gulls, Cormorants, and Crabs - despite their scary strangeness the latter are no danger to humans: rather, we are a danger to them - 'Tiny pincers are growing / from the corners of our eyes', which 'will only increase / in size until we become / violent and blind'. The final section, Strange Conditions, closes with 'New Alphabet', an abecedarian piece that starts with 'algorithm' and ends with 'zilch for your comfort' - it's a poem in which the world becomes so strange that meaning ultimately breaks down,
appropriately dedicated to the surrealist Andre Breton. This is a great collection.
An assured voice pervades this collection, which explores the idea of strangeness in various ways: places, people, creatures, objects, and conditions. Places include 'The World's Neck', where the poet navigates the Bering Strait, feeling his own insignificance in the midst of nature. The People section includes the 'brawling' 'Jimmy the Pig', who is violent, racist, and 'racked with resolution', and 'Pushover', an old drunk who's assaulted by a young 'bruiser' in a way that becomes symbolic of 'generational defeat'. Strange Creatures includes wonderfully rendered Gulls, Cormorants, and Crabs - despite their scary strangeness the latter are no danger to humans: rather, we are a danger to them - 'Tiny pincers are growing / from the corners of our eyes', which 'will only increase / in size until we become / violent and blind'. The final section, Strange Conditions, closes with 'New Alphabet', an abecedarian piece that starts with 'algorithm' and ends with 'zilch for your comfort' - it's a poem in which the world becomes so strange that meaning ultimately breaks down,
appropriately dedicated to the surrealist Andre Breton. This is a great collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review