Hannah and the Monk

Synopsis

Reading Julia Bird's debut collection is like sorting out the contents of an up-ended jewellery box. Crafted formal poems tangle with the rhinestone razzle of looser, noiiser lyrics.

What price consolation, the poems ask, where is the green heart of a city, when does love stop and the work start?

The answers come in all sizes and styles. Images from popular culture, urban myth, religion and history, music, film and TV glow with a steady emotional truth. From spivs to flying monks, chalk horses to London boozers, Bird's imagination takes a circuitous route at a determined clip.

Praise for this Book

‘These poems are remarkable for their charm, freshness and agility. The eye is keenly observant; the appetites strong; the tone confidential, elegiac and tender. From the poignant chronicle of Elmer and the Barmaid, through a witty take on a Shakespeare sonnet, the wistful bestiary of Five Years Trying to Win the Flower Show Vegetable Animal Class, to poems of camouflaged desire – 'Hannah and the Monk' is a first collection that bristles with lust for life. This bird in the hand is worth any number in the bush.’ —Annie Freud

Reviews of this Book

‘Individually, her poems charm; her passion for language is palpable, her lines heaped with gorgeous words selected for sheen and texture, which build the lustrous images that distinguish her work.’ —Sarah Crown , Poetry London