Changeling

Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Clare Pollards fourth collection is steeped in folktale and ballads, and looks at the stories we tell about ourselves. From the Pendle witch-trials in 17th-century Lancashire to the gangs of modern-day east London, Changeling takes on our myths and monsters. These are poems of place that journey from Zennor to Whitby, Broadstairs to Brick Lane. Whether relocating the traditional ballad The Twa Corbies to war-torn Iraq, introducing us to the bearded lady Miss Lupin, or giving us a glimpse of the beast of Bolton, Changeling is a book about our relationship with the Other: fear and trust, force and freedom. Her work really is emphatically of our time, capturing the world in its beauties and horrors in writing thats technically superb, but which also has what, if I was a sentimental chap, Id call heart Ian McMillan, The Verb. 'The themes are ancient guilt, grief, the almost unbearable com-mingling of beauty and suffering but shown through contemporary globalised life in all its grossness and gloryPollards wit, honesty and recklessness Frances Leviston, Yorkshire Post. 'Clare Pollard has so much youthful talent that its alarming. The poems are raw and sexy, exotic and compelling, their insights at once intimate and universal. Theres a cruel precision of observation too, coupled with a real opulence, about these pieces I loved the headlong rush of it all Catherine Czerkawska, Mslexia. 'Pollards poems are like shards of glass, brittle, dangerous things that work their way under your skinPollard is a poet of the 21st century, a witness of the present and a shaper of its voice John Sears, PopMatters.