listener

by Lemn Sissay

Listener overflows with love poems, inner-city soap operas, reflections on history, mystery and felicity and much more. Every page sings with Sissay's unique voice - visionary, good-humoured and bursting with life.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published October 16, 2008

About the author

Lemn Sissay OBE (born 21 May 1967), is a British author and broadcaster.

Reviews

[Mara Shaw]

Modern yet timeless poetry with energetic honesty. He made me laugh, he made me pause, he made me think. I don't ask any more than that.
Lemn Sissay has come a long way since his start in foster care. He's a strong voice with a strong spine. More power to him!

[Sandy]

This is my favorite Lemn Sissay collection yet. The poems are so carefully wrought and rich in imagery that spans time and place. Sissay is as honest about pleasure as he is about pain. In this way, every poem is a celebration of what it means to be alive, even if many of the poems deal with very difficult emotional challenges.

[Elelta]

while i loved all of it, the final essay was brilliant

[E]

I hated this so much. So boring and dumb I can’t even.

[Una (EX) precaria tra i libri]

Review at https://precaria-tra-i-libri.blogspot...

[Sagal Imaani]

5 star cos he’s my fav poet

[Hayley]

2.5

[Kate Gould]

Lemn Sissay’s latest poetry collection is not exciting fare. The main problem is that it lacks freshness. There is little that is striking or exceptional, largely because Sissay borrows so heavily from idiom, cliché, and adage. There are some good pieces – The Battle of Adwa, 1896 is a memorable historical account, and Barley Field is touching – but the overall impression is of material rehashed and undeveloped.

Had Sissay taken the fledgling ideas hinted at in some of the poems and done something with them, he might have produced engaging pieces. However, listing road signs and informing the reader that “Christmas can be split into two kinds of people – Those who look into the windows of houses of others and those who look out” isn’t exactly enthralling. And he labours the point, seemingly unaware that, solely by repetition, the impact of an image, theme, or statement is not augmented.

[James]

Some good stuff here, but needs a thorough edit.