In Jeda Pearl's debut poetry collection, Time Cleaves Itself, a disabled Scottish woman of colour invites you into the split and rewoven threads of her intersecting, in between worlds as she navigates belonging and claiming space.

Landscapes and bodyscapes are brought into focus through lenses of race, illness, disability and womanhood. Ancestral languages of Scots, Patois, Geordie and English critique ableism, colonialism and Scottish exceptionalism; they ask 'Who gets the trees?', honour Caribbean and Scottish heritages and move from the bed as universe to fantastical and science-fictional imaginings.

Here, lyrical acts of observation unfold with defiance, tenderness, rhythm and the occasional side-eye. The accordion of time stretches across poems that deliver a sonic meditation on memory, grief, disability, belonging, empathy and resilience.

This ground-breaking and lyrical first collection from Scottish Jamaican poet.

About the Author
Jeda Pearl is a Scottish Jamaican writer. In 2022, she was shortlisted for the Sky Arts RSL Award and longlisted for the Women Poets' Prize. Art installations include Windrush Legacy Creative Reflections (2023), Caledonian Biotech Library, 3033 (Scottish Storytelling Centre, 2022) and Acts of Observation (Collective, 2021). Performances include StAnza, Hidden Door, Push the Boat Out, Cymera and Edinburgh International Book Festival. Her poems and short stories are published by New Writing Scotland, Open Book, Not Going Back to Normal, Shoreline of Infinity and Aesthetica.


Book Information
ISBN 9781845235888
Author Jeda Pearl
Format Paperback
Imprint Peepal Tree Press Ltd
Publisher Peepal Tree Press Ltd