Inpress Newsletter
Synopsis
The poems in this collection explore lives behind closed doors. In opening them, Rebecca Goss is not afraid to unsettle her reader, revealing danger and desire in a variety of voices. These compact narratives portray a heady mix of sex, fear, longing and revenge, her poems trembling with tenderness and sorrow while depicting people at their most vulnerable and exposed. Her style is succinct, with each poem pared to the bone. The people you meet inside this book may be alarming, their lives may veer and freewheel, but Goss’s pen is unnervingly calm and indisputably in control. "The poems are physical and violent but also sexy… above all they are highly original and tender, exposing physical longing but also anxiety." Paul Stephenson, 25 Years in The North "Love, longing, sexual desire and jealousy abound in lives defined by hidden acts or secret thoughts, sometimes exposed to devastating effect. There is a misleading sparseness in Goss's poetry; images baldly stated are nonetheless deeply unsettling or startling and this pared-down quality intensifies the emotional impact of the poems. Whilst there is something of the grotesque in some poems, everyday life also features as in this description of sorting dirty clothes; 'ankle deep in the compost of my family.'" Poetry Book Society Bulletin "What is remarkable about her poems is that they make the most intimate experiences of love and death both shocking and simple... It is a fine first book." Jon Glover, Stand "This is Rebecca Goss’ first full collection, and it’s a startlingly good beginning. For her the poem’s the thing. When she chooses to write about imaginary situations, she still achieves the tang of truth. This is good, strong, efficient writing, accurate, economical, clear-sighted, from a woman who has her finger on the pulse of life." R.V. Bailey, Envoi "Rebecca’s poetry is direct, yet often placed at interesting angles to what seems to be its subject. She writes about death, sex, relationships, the body; there’s a sense of the forbidden that hovers over her work like a fallen angel. One to savour, one to buy." John Harvey "Well achieved and sharply perceptive people poems, with a feeling of physical closeness and no sentimentality." Other Poetry "This exciting new volume of verse by Rebecca Goss... is fearless, fresh and utterly engaging. Her poetry... is sexy, feisty and strong on intelligence as well as emotion... In her best pieces - such as the powerful title poem, as well as 'Aeroplanes', 'Sonnet for Clare' and 'The Wife Maker', after 'Blodeuwedd' from The Mabinogion - she takes on the big subjects, like life and death, and gets to the heart of the matter in a very few lines." Keith Richmond, Tribune "Rebecca Goss’ debut allows the reader to see far more of the journey she’s taken to where she is now. Her style – spare, unshowy and thoroughly honed – is consistent throughout. Goss uses it to carry a series of tense, slightly mysterious family narratives that together tell a wider story. Poems such as 'Knowledge' and 'Fold' pack an awful lot of punch into their small frames." Magma "Her poems feel close to us, as if it is she who is eavesdropping on our own shared, though rather private experiences – and not we who are learning about what we assume to be hers. There is a great deal of touching and smelling, of clothes, food, vegetables, and a fair dollop of sex. The Anatomy of Structures is very engrossingly readable." Michael Glover, The Tablet Rebecca Goss was born in 1974 , grew up in Suffolk and now lives in Liverpool with her family. She began writing poetry as a teenager and was a Special Award winner in the 1991 WH Smith Young Writer’s Competition, judged by Ted Hughes. A recipient of a North West Arts young writer’s bursary, her poems have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, while a pamphlet, Keeping Houston Time (Slow Dancer Press), appeared in 1997. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Cardiff University and for several years taught at Liverpool John Moores University. The Anatomy of Structures is her first collection.
This title has not been reviewed yet.
Have you read The Anatomy of Structures by Rebecca Goss? - Be the first to write a review
