The Magic of What's There
Published on 30. November 2017
88 pages
978-1-78410-495-5 (ISBN)
Description
In his bold new collection, David Morley, winner of the Ted Hughes Award, casts off the worlds of myth and magical fable to focus on the fiercely personal. 'Love teaches you how to mind / And how to mend', he writes in 'After a Song by Gustav Mahler'. In The Magic of What's There Morley uses his eye for precise detail and his linguistic invention to explore childhood suffering and, in counterbalance, the joys of love, friendship and parenthood. He finds the elements of epic in the everyday, navigating the complex connections between past and present selves. His poems acknowledge our capacity for cruelty, but also for love, tenderness and mercy.
Reviews / Votes
'Exuberant, linguistically experimental poems... his work has affinities with Hughes's attention to both the surfaces and depths of the natural world.'Jeff Gundy, Poetry Salzburg Review 'Morley is a master of the integrity of wholes and parts. A fabulous collection of poems...'
Dundee University Review of the Arts 'David Morley can work in more than one mode... no subject is off limits here'
Harry Cochrane, TLS
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Carcanet Press Ltd
File size
1,59 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-78410-495-5 (9781784104955)
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
David Morley is an ecologist and naturalist by background. He studied Zoology at the University of Bristol and pursued research on acid rain. His awards for poetry include the Ted Hughes Award and a Cholmondeley Award. His last poetry collection FURY was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. David is a Professor of Creative Writing at Warwick University and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.
Photo Credit: Claire McNamee
Photo Credit: Claire McNamee
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- I The Discovery
- I quam a Quunnock
- The Grace of JCBs
- Dr Seuss Passes through the Gates of Heaven
- The blue whale's heart is a four-chambered car
- Naked Poem
- The Discovery
- II Husbandry
- Mercy
- Husbandry
- Innocence
- Lesson Three
- III The Fıeld Guide
- Wheatear
- Gravity
- Lorca, an Apparition
- Hassle
- Migration
- IV Sycamore Bark
- Red Spider Mite
- After a Song by Gustav Mahler
- A Spectrogram by Messiaen
- A Duet by Schubert
- Sycamore Bark
- V Forgiveness
- Bipolarity, an Eroded Pantoum
- A Sad Tale's Best for Winter
- Forgiveness
- Winter, after Winter
- VI The Teardrop Stoop
- Yarak
- The Teardrop Stoop
- Rock-climbs Remembered for their Perfumes
- VII A Second Life
- The Crowd
- Night Flight
- Seven Springs of Ozleworth
- In Malvern Woods
- Coda
- The Way In
- Stepping Stones
- Bluebells for Edward and Gabriel
- The Bell
- Leamington Bird Reserve Hide
- Notes
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by David Morley from Carcanet Press
- Copyright
