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The Water Engine
The Water Engine is a truly astonishing debut. Ankh Spice weaves place and pain, trauma and healing, befores and afters together with beautiful new language that will pull you in, send you floating like mist through the sky, and leave you gently adrift in strange yet familiar waters.
- GenresPoetry
177 pages, Paperback
Published October 26, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 12, 2022
The first thing about ‘The Water Engine’ that strikes you is the stunning cover all the blue green sparkling froth and foamy flow, the whooshing wonder, turbulent swirl and the glorious release and flight of it. This is so indicative of what is contained between the covers of this wondrous debut collection of poems by Ankh Spice – this body of work, this body of water flowing.
It is so much more than a book of poems – it is a flotilla of boats that transports the reader to exactly where they need to be – be that a place of healing (Reclaiming the birdboy), of wonder, love and possibiliy (Baltic Amber, Action/potential, New Cloth) or of increased reverence and understanding for this world we inhabit at this perilous moment in time (Solastalgia). Ankh’s tender appreciation of the life in everything is offered to the reader in the most gentle terms with words that are intricately crafted, woven in water with delicacy and beauty and contain a unique integral music that plays through you long after reading.
‘Oh note oh note, oh love,
Oh listen, you’ve been
filling up with music since the start.’
One of my favourite poems ‘Ninth Wave (IV: Finale, D minor)’ is a beautiful example of Ankh’s work with it’s deep understanding of our predicament – the treacherous journeys we sometimes travel and the power and music that resides within to haul ourselves through to ‘the breve – our shivering moment of sustain.’ I can’t recommend this book of poems highly enough. It is divinely inspired, truly sublime and I find myself returning to it again and again, always uncovering something new, always renewed by his gift of words.
It is so much more than a book of poems – it is a flotilla of boats that transports the reader to exactly where they need to be – be that a place of healing (Reclaiming the birdboy), of wonder, love and possibiliy (Baltic Amber, Action/potential, New Cloth) or of increased reverence and understanding for this world we inhabit at this perilous moment in time (Solastalgia). Ankh’s tender appreciation of the life in everything is offered to the reader in the most gentle terms with words that are intricately crafted, woven in water with delicacy and beauty and contain a unique integral music that plays through you long after reading.
‘Oh note oh note, oh love,
Oh listen, you’ve been
filling up with music since the start.’
One of my favourite poems ‘Ninth Wave (IV: Finale, D minor)’ is a beautiful example of Ankh’s work with it’s deep understanding of our predicament – the treacherous journeys we sometimes travel and the power and music that resides within to haul ourselves through to ‘the breve – our shivering moment of sustain.’ I can’t recommend this book of poems highly enough. It is divinely inspired, truly sublime and I find myself returning to it again and again, always uncovering something new, always renewed by his gift of words.
February 8, 2026
One of those poetry books that creates whole paintings in your head.
Some of the poems I had to sit with not everything hits immediately, but that means there’s something here that will resonate differently for everyone.
They write about mental health, environmental change, and how closely our wellbeing is tied to the world around us, I could actually see the places they were describing, and then suddenly be caught off guard by grief, and finding and unfinding yourself.”
This book genuinely inspired me to pick up a pen and write poetry again, not because I’m a poet, but because it felt cathartic to get things out of my head and onto the page.
If you love poetry that’s immersive, reflective, and quietly powerful, this one’s worth your time.
Some of the poems I had to sit with not everything hits immediately, but that means there’s something here that will resonate differently for everyone.
They write about mental health, environmental change, and how closely our wellbeing is tied to the world around us, I could actually see the places they were describing, and then suddenly be caught off guard by grief, and finding and unfinding yourself.”
This book genuinely inspired me to pick up a pen and write poetry again, not because I’m a poet, but because it felt cathartic to get things out of my head and onto the page.
If you love poetry that’s immersive, reflective, and quietly powerful, this one’s worth your time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews