Overview

Rooted in religion, grounded and earthy, the debut collection from the Poetry Critic for the Sunday Times delivers frank and humorous poems about mortality, desire, and the joys and griefs of fatherhood. In Dirt Rich, Richardson digs deep into his past: a childhood in the Nottinghamshire coalfield, his ‘hatch / match / dispatch’ duties as a Church of England Parish Priest, and years of work with Archaeological Science in Germany. These poems deal with the dirt we dish, the mud we sling, the treasure we bury. In this startlingly honest first collection, love is celebrated, loss confronted, and life’s trade-offs presented – do we choose loving or knowing, faith or the void, time or eternity? In coalmines and churchyards and fossil-hunting digs, the hope of resurrection persists. These are poems of personality and beauty, to be learnt by heart and taken to heart.

Full Product Details

9781800175341

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘These are beautifully crafted, astonishingly frank and open-hearted poems. Richardson’s work places an anathema on platitudes, looking for the truth especially when it’s uncomfortable, emotionally fraught, theologically troubled… It felt like finally being spoken to as an adult and realising that’s actually quite rare. What really sings here is an affinity with the rich poetics of the earlier twentieth century, but a voice utterly contemporary…’ Luke Kennard ‘The time-shifts enacted in these musical and deeply felt poems throw into sharp relief the thrills and anguishes of the lives we lived and those we almost lived… By turns contemplative and disquieting, Richardson’s work is punctuated by moments of intense vitality.’ Julia Copus 'This is a debut worth the wait.' Jade Cuttle, The Observer

‘These are beautifully crafted, astonishingly frank and open-hearted poems. Richardson’s work places an anathema on platitudes, looking for the truth especially when it’s uncomfortable, emotionally fraught, theologically troubled… It felt like finally being spoken to as an adult and realising that’s actually quite rare. What really sings here is an affinity with the rich poetics of the earlier twentieth century, but a voice utterly contemporary…’ Luke Kennard ‘The time-shifts enacted in these musical and deeply felt poems throw into sharp relief the thrills and anguishes of the lives we lived and those we almost lived… By turns contemplative and disquieting, Richardson’s work is punctuated by moments of intense vitality.’ Julia Copus

Author Information

Graeme Richardson grew up in Nottinghamshire, and now lives and works in Germany. A former Chaplain and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, he has also served as a Parish Priest in Hertfordshire and Birmingham. Over the last twenty years, his writing has featured in various publications including the Guardian and the Times, and he has been a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement since 2010. A first pamphlet, Hang Time, was published in 2006 from Landfill Press; his second pamphlet, Last of the Coalmine Choirboys came out in 2024 from New Walk Editions. Since 2022 he has also been the Poetry Critic of the Sunday Times.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available