STRAID COLLECTION AWARD | 2018 | LAUNCHED AT KEATS HOUSE 29th November
We are delighted to publish Pickles, Laura Webb's debut collection at Keats House.
Commitment ceremony from 40,000 feet
I’m looking down at you from a height,
toes rocks offshore; the coastal defences of your limbs.
From where you lie you can hear the bells
of local churches dismantling themselves.
Your dreams are like the Navajo language
used by the Allies during the war,
chiefs translating a thousand things
falling to earth – fancy fire, hummingbird.
My archipelago has been strung out by a rival,
islands lovingly laid toe to toe like crockery or bones.
Look, the largest island is foxgloves
on their way out, a row of volcanic afterglow.
Laura Webb was born in Birkenhead in 1985. In 2007, she won the Blackwell Publishing/ The Reader magazine ‘How to Write a Poem’ competition. In 2008, she graduated with an M.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester and in 2014 was awarded a Ph.D in English Literature from the University of Sheffield. In 2017, she was joint-winner of the Manchester Poetry Prize in the Manchester Writing Competition. She has taught or delivered workshops in university, prison and workplace contexts. She works for a charity and lives in London.
Pickles is her debut poetry collection.
ISBN 9781911132479