Overview

In Passerine, Kirsten Luckins' epistolary poems distill the daily process of grieving, healing, remembering, through nature's wild and atomic industry. Reading this collection is like pressing your ear to the ground to hear the orchestra of the world: alive with buzzing hum and beating wing; death, all the while, lurking on the doorstep. The language is lush, tack-sharp and playful, capturing both the contradictions of being in and of the world, and the rare honesty of a true and fierce friendship. It's this friendship that binds the collection: a golden thread of sunlight.

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9781913268138

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Reviews

'Passerine takes us through a liminal year of grief, rage and wonder, asking what do we hold onto when there is no-one there? Writing repeatedly to 'Dear Sophie' is a way of keeping the memory of a much-loved friend alive, helping the writer herself stay on the side of life, while also willing the planet, against the odds, to survive. In Sophie's absence, it is the world that speaks-through its Ten Thousand Things, notably birds, flowers, found text, interiors and the many marvellous incarnations of clouds. The language of these compelling poems is fresh and fierce, fuelled by intense looking and questioning. Every element of the book expresses passion and vivacity, endurance in the face of the unendurable: a strong dose of medicine for our troubled times.' Linda France 'Luckins takes us on a mesmerising journey through loss, grief and healing, through landscapes where time and perspective are in turns darkened and illuminated by the natural world, its wildness and unpredictability. The language is startling, cinematic; everyday detail is revealed in a new and brilliant light. Every poem will touch a nerve. This is a remarkable collection that establishes Luckins as a poet that can speak to your soul.' Jane Lovell 'Like all great experimenters, Kirsten Luckins is freed rather than bound by self-imposed restrictions, and this remains true in her third collection Passerine. This collection captures the stages of grief over a year through letters filled with nature, studding her reflections with tactile and fiercely witty imagery. Passerine's an elegy not just to a lost friend but to a world that is rapidly disappearing around us- one of the most dazzling collections I've read in a long time.' Claire Trevien

Author Information

Kirsten Luckins is a poet, performer and creative producer who lives as close to the sea as she dares, on the north-east coast of England, where the beaches are both heavenly and deserted. Her creative practice is centred on poetry but driven by playfulness, collaboration and experimentation, so encompasses film, collage and text art, performance and theatre-making. Passerine is her third poetry publication, but the first to take itself seriously as an act of literature. You can explore her work at www.kirstenluckins.com

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