Cowboy
Published on 7. September 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-1-80081-814-9 (ISBN)
Description
Shortlisted for the Forward Prize Best First Collection 2023
The poems in Cowboy are knowing, millennial, internet-sick, funny, with deep undercurrents: of embodied and disembodied spiritualities; of the knowledge of animals; of familial mythologies; of grief and longing; of autism and navigating diagnoses; of early and enduring disappointment; of the wildness underneath the smooth glass-and-chrome surfaces of contemporary life.
The echo of a question permeates the collection - where does a person grow up? - moving restlessly between rural Wales, London and the American South; between the esoteric spaces of the internet; between the artlessness of childhood and adolescence transfigured inexplicably into a disquieting adulthood, with its attendant weirdness of rent-paying, cohabiting, the churn of mindless work and alienation.
The generous abundance of Cowboy's references - memes, early noughties television shows, pop songs, cities and their suburbs, video games - bring anxiety and pressure, joy and glory to this singularly impressive debut.
The poems in Cowboy are knowing, millennial, internet-sick, funny, with deep undercurrents: of embodied and disembodied spiritualities; of the knowledge of animals; of familial mythologies; of grief and longing; of autism and navigating diagnoses; of early and enduring disappointment; of the wildness underneath the smooth glass-and-chrome surfaces of contemporary life.
The echo of a question permeates the collection - where does a person grow up? - moving restlessly between rural Wales, London and the American South; between the esoteric spaces of the internet; between the artlessness of childhood and adolescence transfigured inexplicably into a disquieting adulthood, with its attendant weirdness of rent-paying, cohabiting, the churn of mindless work and alienation.
The generous abundance of Cowboy's references - memes, early noughties television shows, pop songs, cities and their suburbs, video games - bring anxiety and pressure, joy and glory to this singularly impressive debut.
Reviews / Votes
A collection of great promise that captures the exhilaration of being young. * Sunday Times * This debut is hilarious, moving and dazzlingly new ... Cowboy marks the entry of a significant and exciting new voice into British poetry. -- Rebecca Tamas * The Guardian * A truly dazzling debut, full of utterly inventive and original work ... Walker's voice is at once razor sharp and enigmatic, a sophisticated blend of control and swagger that gives the collection an assurance beyond its years. * Jane Yeh * A phenomenal debut. Walker's voice speaks so sharply not just to this generation but also to generations past and to whatever will follow. * Gboyega Odubanjo * Cowboy is breathtaking in its depth, rootedness and conjurings ... Kandace Siobhan Walker's exquisite touch both harnesses and transforms tradition. Certainly one of the best poets of her generation. * Lillian Allen, Poet Laureate of Toronto * Electrifying, shocking even .. attuned precisely to the slippery present moment, reminding us that a poem might awaken something important or urgent within. * Richard Scott *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 130 mm
Width: 198 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
114 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80081-814-9 (9781800818149)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and artist of Canadian, Jamaican, Saltwater-Geechee and Welsh heritage. She is an editor at bath magg. In 2021, she was an Eric Gregory Award recipient and the winner of The White Review Poet's Prize. A poetry pamphlet, Kaleido, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. Cowboy is her first book. She lives in London.