Poetry

In 2022, James McDermott lost his sixty-year-old father to COVID after three weeks in intensive care. In his second collection from Nine Arches Press, McDermott explores his father's complex illness and death; the pandemic; grief; growth and how as a queer boy then a bereaved son, he had to learn to father himself.

gestalt is a poetic enquiry of the Panchayat, a collective of South Asian and Black artists/practitioners involved in communal archiving, artmaking and activism in Britain from 1988-2015.

The Pulse of Contemporary Turkish offers a unique glimpse into the vibrant world of Turkish poetry, featuring 172 poems by more than 60 poets, most of whom are still active today. From neo-lyrical verses to avant-garde experiments, this anthology reflects the rich tapestry of voices emerging from Turkey's literary scene. With a balanced representation of gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, this collection brings together works from poets associated with 25 different publishing houses, including both major literary institutions and smaller presses nurturing fresh talent. Oxford Turkologist Laurent Mignon provides the foreword, complemented by two introductory essays that contextualize the sociopolitical climate and literary trends shaping Turkish poetry in the new millennium and highlight key events, journals, and manifestos that have influenced the art form.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem that narrates the biblical story of humanity's fall from grace. The tale opens in Hell, where Satan and his followers, cast out of Heaven, plan revenge against God.

Traversing an axis of Liverpool-London, and following a car accident in New York, The Overmind is an attempt to metabolise experience whilst seeing the world through the skin of a jellyfish.

Dimmet by Rob Miles is a profound exploration of twilight spaces-those physical and emotional edgelands where meaning shifts and boundaries blur. These finely wrought poems balance delicacy with depth, capturing fleeting moments of stillness, nature, and human connection. Miles' poetry makes the familiar strange, drawing readers into a world of sharp contrasts-light and shadow, joy and loss. His lyrical voice is both intimate and expansive, reflecting on the subtle intersections of time, memory, and place. Dimmet is a testament to the power of poetry to transform everyday life into something extraordinary.

Say Something Back & Time Lived, Without Its Flow, Denise Riley's exacting meditations on loss, grief, and life thereafter, are published together for the first time.

The Southern Eye: Co-Seeing Displacements delves into the layered and poignant experiences of refugees, intertwining photography and prose to explore themes of memory, identity, and belonging. The book is a collaborative effort, blending the perspectives of Palestinian poet Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, migration scholar Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, and photographer Saiful Huq Omi. Through powerful imagery and reflective narratives, the authors navigate the complexities of displacement, capturing moments that reveal the human condition in the face of loss and survival. This work not only documents the visible traces of refugee life but also evokes the unseen emotional landscapes that shape the lived experiences of those who are displaced.

Poetry that weaves personal narratives with deep political insights, masterfully exploring the intricate intersections of history, philosophy, and emotionIn this debut collection, renowned scholar Rosalind Morris spans the lyrical landscapes of personal experience and global political dilemmas. Organized into four distinct sections, each featuring seven poems that vary in style and content, For Lack of a Dictionary reflects the diverse facets of human complexity and the struggle to find a language capable of addressing them. Beginning with a mythopoetic exploration of the self and progressing through varied voices and forms-from the epistolary and the erotic to the elegiac-the collection navigates the absences and presences that shape our interpersonal connections. From Homer's Iliad to Hobbes's Leviathan, and from the intimate letters of the Rosenbergs to the television broadcasts of lunar landings, Morris revisits epic figures of classical literature with a contemporary voice, concluding with poignant reflections on personal loss and the seductive allure of magical thinking in times of grief.In the tradition of Adrienne Rich and Muriel Rukeyser, Morris engages in a dialogue that challenges and enlightens, positioning For Lack of a Dictionary as a profound commentary on the intersections of personal and political realms.

Transformative poetry that illuminates migration and memory, giving voice to the unseen and uncountedWritten during extended periods in Brownsville, McAllen, and Marfa, Texas, in Carbonate of Copper Roberto Tejada gives voice to unsettled stories from the past, as well as to present-day experiences of custody and displacement. The poems stage scenes adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border and to the realities of migration warped by jarring political vitriol, bearing witness to past and present-day hazards and sorrows wagered by those in search of asylum. So enabled, these poems make visible not only the infrastructure of militarized surveillance and its detention complex but also the aspiration to justice and mercy and the resilient self-organized order of time for migrants seeking human dignity while awaiting passage to the other side of the dividing line.The book's title refers also to a mineral found in azurite and malachite, a color medium that had an impact on art during the first phase of globalization, the ensuing colonial enterprise, and its systems of extraction. Carbonate of copper was less desirable than the deeper ultramarine made from ground lapis lazuli, but Renaissance artists and patrons nonetheless coveted it and prompted a market for the blue derivative used in tempera and oil pigment. The blue powder pigment serves, too, as a form of sorcery: one that would ward off those who deal in injury of the already dispossessed.Turning his attention to the forced relocation of peoples, the COVID-19 death toll, the encroaching dangers of illiberal rule, the meanings of home and eviction, the power of cultural memory, as well as his artistic forebears, Tejada accounts for the uncounted and those excluded from belonging in voices that tell the cruel fortunes and joyful vitality of human and non-human life forms.

Selection of poems by Sri Chinmoy, with forward by Janaka Alan Spence. "If I have tried to 'place' Sri Chinmoy's writing, it is not with the intention of limiting it, of consigning it to a category. In fact I think he has created his own space, his own category, beyond the ebb and flow of literary fashion."

"Strange Hymn by Carlene Kucharczyk is a meticulously crafted lyrical journey exploring morality and humanity. The poems here grapple with understanding physical loss. They also engage with the more abstract slipping away of memory and time. Kucharczyk's insightful poems blur the lines between history and myth, love and grief, song and silence, often caught between lamenting the passage of time and rejoicing in small beauties. Each moment reflects on our ephemeral lives from musings on art and nature to reflections on the self. As readers traverse this collection, they learn how the body sings, the many iterations of Mary, what sirens truly think of Odysseus, how a Morning Glory unfurls, and lessons in orthodontics, but most importantly, how to live with absence. Kucharczyk is a master of manipulating time and space through her dynamic use of form, creating a narrative that begs, 'After I'm gone, don't bury my body- / Burn it, and turn it into song'"-- Provided by publisher.

Texts that highlight the cultural and literary legacy of Hispanic New MexicansThis volume gathers works produced by Spanish-speaking people of Mexican descent who became United States citizens by virtue of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and whose ancestors had resided in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, and Colorado for hundreds of years prior to the Mexican-American War. The writings in this collection, drawn from various genres, were composed at a time marked by the confluence of tradition and change. In addition to facing unprecedented challenges to their rights, livelihoods, language, and religion, the writers experienced the arrival of the railroad, the telegraph, film, and radio; they fought in the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I; and they saw Arizona and New Mexico gain statehood in 1912. This anthology of songs, poems, speeches, and journalism shows the persistence of a vibrant culture in the face of upheaval and change.

Texts that highlight the cultural and literary legacy of Hispanic New MexicansThis volume gathers works produced by Spanish-speaking people of Mexican descent who became United States citizens by virtue of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) and whose ancestors had resided in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, and Colorado for hundreds of years prior to the Mexican-American War. The writings in this collection, drawn from various genres, were composed at a time marked by the confluence of tradition and change. In addition to facing unprecedented challenges to their rights, livelihoods, language, and religion, the writers experienced the arrival of the railroad, the telegraph, film, and radio; they fought in the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I; and they saw Arizona and New Mexico gain statehood in 1912. This anthology of songs, poems, speeches, and journalism shows the persistence of a vibrant culture in the face of upheaval and change.

An intimate portrait of Rainer Maria Rilke's life and art in interwar Paris by his friend and translator, offering unparalleled insight into the creative process A stunningly written, deeply personal biography that's also a master class in the art of translation, perfect for fans of: Richard Holmes, Lydia Davis, Kate Briggs and Julian Green From walks in the Luxembourg Garden to letters describing tea with an irascible Tolstoy, Rainer Maria Rilke's French translator, Maurice Betz, enjoyed a rare intimacy with the great poet. This book, inspired by their time working together on the 1st French translation of Rilke's only novel, invites the reader into that friendship, offering glimpses of Rilke's creative process and the glittering cultural scene of interwar Paris. Betz first came to Rilke as an admirer, carrying a book of his poems in his kit bag while serving as a soldier in World War I. No other writer meant so much to him, and Rilke would come to mean even more once their fruitful partnership began, lasting until the poet's death in 1926. Together they spent the spring and summer of 1925 editing Betz's translation of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, a painstaking process interrupted by companionable walks through the streets of Paris and vivaciously told anecdotes from the poet's starry social world. This elegant and poignant look at the great writer's final years, drawn from Betz's memories and the letters Rilke sent from his travels across Europe, provides a portrait of a brilliant mind, an evocation of a lost world, and a testament to an enduring friendship.