A Poetry Book Society Autumn 2020 Recommendation.
The Long Beds explores the cell-like containment of the small hours when the body has no estate but its bed, while - waking or dreaming - the mind sets out on its travels, often in the realms of an old life, cherished items or relinquished connections. Central to the poems' imagery is the presence of a bedstead that has survived a bombing raid, protecting only what was bundled underneath it. In painterly language Kate Miller also trains her eye and ear outwards on grand, impersonal scenes: London at dawn, riverbanks and docks, the corridors of a great hospital: to uncover fogged experience and restore colour to memory. Her poems prod us awake at first light and release us into the morning.
Subjects: Literature
Want a taster of The Long Beds’s content? Sign up here to New Issue Notifications to receive email alerts each time a new issue is published, alongside its editorial highlights.
- Author: Kate Miller
- Publisher: Carcanet
- ISBN: 9781784109677