Absence, the third title in CHEERIO's acclaimed poetry series, is a book about nothing. Or nothings: losses, vacua, gaps. From the desolation at the heat-death of the universe to the impassable distance between two people talking, and from the trust exercise of walking in darkness to experiments on the vacuum, Absence searches for what's missing and what we never had. Starting with the problem of how to represent that that isn't there, and ending with the end of love, Absence takes in the ache for a vanished god, the permanently delayed doomsday of millenarian cults, and the overflowing life inside our seemingly empty buckets and stomachs. Ali Lewis's poems mirror, undermine, reframe and rephrase each other in a voice that feels as precise and scientific as is it playful and warm. Absence is both intricate and ambitious, comic and tragic. It is a book of restless curiosity and revelation.

About the Author
Ali Lewis is a writer and editor. He received an Eric Gregory Award for his pamphlet, Hotel (Verve, 2020), and his poems and short stories have appeared in the London Magazine, the TLS, Poetry Review, and the New Statesman, as well as in Poetry London, where he was Associate Editor. He frequently collaborates with composers and settings of his work have featured on Radio Three and Radio France Musique. He holds a PhD from Durham University. Absence is his first book.

Reviews
'Deft, ingenious, funny and metaphysically gymnastic. What an absolute gift it is.' - Abigail Parry 'I love this. Ali Lewis's poems have an unparaphrasable quality, as if they're not read but inhaled, like a clear vapour which leaves you giddy, tranquil and troubled all at once. Read it, you'll see what I mean.' - Caroline Bird 'In these searching, inventive, quick-witted poems, vulnerability is revealed then obscured and the ordinary and everyday becomes transformed.' - Kim Moore



Book Information
ISBN 9781739440503
Author Ali Lewis
Format Paperback
Imprint CHEERIO Publishing
Publisher CHEERIO Publishing