a thirst

The poetry in this collection varies widely in both subject and form, but threading through the diversity there are uniting features: a careful musicality, an openness of tone.

"I'ld say that one thing a poet should do is be respectful of the fact that the reader is being asked to direct some of his or her attention to the poems rather than elsewhere; the poet should try to use the reader's time well. Writing is about trying to make sense of things, and, hopefully, engaging the reader's thirst."

The collection concludes with Chronicle, a kind of short verse diary of the turbulent second half of 2016 which, "tilting its hat" and paying its respects to Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal, seeks to spotlight both particular events and the more general underswirls propelling those events.

Graham Bowers was born in Shropshire, and lives in Sweden.