Birds Knit My Ribs Together
Published on 25. January 2024
50 pages
978-1-913665-92-0 (ISBN)
Description
what if / I actually - am - a bird / my cupped hands / opening to release me... Phil Barnett's relationship with birds is so close that his poetry blurs the distinctions between himself and the birds - a kind of ornimorphology where rather than giving the birds human characteristics, the reverse happens, and he imagines himself as a bird. Phil Barnett is a photographer, writer, musician, artist and naturalist, who has a passion for the birds that kept him company through a long hard illness. His photography and poetry have quite a following on social media, which is where we found him, on The Daily Haiku. His skill as a photographer leads to an acute visual sensibility, and his slow recovery moves from a tick sheet his mother had to fill in for him, to extraordinary poetry - full of wit and wonder and spectacular language.
Reviews / Votes
The quality of Barnett's writing is always thrilling, often dizzying and exhilarating in its attention to detail and its subtle marriages of sound and meaning. -- Giles Watson * London Grip *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
1 Illustrations
ISBN-13
978-1-913665-92-0 (9781913665920)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
A decade long stretch of illness largely confined Phil Barnett to a living room. His patch was the view through the window. He had swapped the people, job, relationships and fully working body of his previous life, for a garden full of birds.
It was made bearable by his fascination with all things avian. It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that he spent 10 years looking out of a window. He recorded and documented everything, producing a website.
Although still affected by illness Phils daily walks take him around an area of fairly ordinary countryside in South Lancashire, producing both poetry and photography that is anything but ordinary.
It was made bearable by his fascination with all things avian. It would be only a slight exaggeration to say that he spent 10 years looking out of a window. He recorded and documented everything, producing a website.
Although still affected by illness Phils daily walks take him around an area of fairly ordinary countryside in South Lancashire, producing both poetry and photography that is anything but ordinary.
Content
Birds Knit my Ribs Together
Introduction
The pond
Dream Thrush
Wounds
Three Curses
To know what it's like
Box of letting go
Jackdaws to roost
Bird watching
We give what we can
Just sitting
Under wings
Trepanning
unchorused
A crack must have opened
Plugged by a bird
unsprung
Butcher bird
Terrible curve
Nor
Woodcock rising
Two white horses
Floating cork of me
Molten roe
So close
Amber under
The news
Spans two hills
Its own angle
The nature dog
Coastal footpath
Used to be
Flux
Set the air
Stones
Open
A willow's words
When I was water
Introduction
The pond
Dream Thrush
Wounds
Three Curses
To know what it's like
Box of letting go
Jackdaws to roost
Bird watching
We give what we can
Just sitting
Under wings
Trepanning
unchorused
A crack must have opened
Plugged by a bird
unsprung
Butcher bird
Terrible curve
Nor
Woodcock rising
Two white horses
Floating cork of me
Molten roe
So close
Amber under
The news
Spans two hills
Its own angle
The nature dog
Coastal footpath
Used to be
Flux
Set the air
Stones
Open
A willow's words
When I was water
