The glowing, painterly poems of Jenny Lewis' first collection take soundings in the depths: of the layers of the pasts that create a life, of the sources of self and creativity, of the structures beneath the surface. It is a region of loss and of recovery, the realm where memories are stored and poetry is made. Ghosts appear. An unknown father, the 'young South Wales Borderer' who died when Lewis was a few months old, bequeaths an irrecoverable sense of incompleteness to his child. Poems about being sent away to a Masonic school, aged seven, reflect the shadow that loss casts, while a later sequence suggests how the missing pieces may be recovered from the depths. "Fathom" is an intense and textured collection that leads the reader from surfaces to the heart of things. In the end is a sense of affirmation, where self is made whole.
About the AuthorJenny Lewis' poems have appeared in the 'Oxford Poets 2000' anthology (Carcanet) and in several poetry journals. This is her first collection.
Reviews"Movingly direct ... an imaginative piece of writing with much to say to both women and men about how someone fights for survival with dignity and courage." Jim Burns, "Ambit"
Book InformationISBN 9781903039816
Author Jenny LewisFormat Paperback
Page Count 59
Imprint OxfordPoetsPublisher Carcanet Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 95g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 5mm