Shoulder Tap

These poems explore the depths of the human mind, featuring raw and sophisticated observations of the world. They range from dark art to illumination of unease and loss, and include riffs on Baudelaire, Rilke, and Laforgue. The collection is thrilling and unpredictable, making for a haunting read.

Format: Hardback
Length: 72 pages
Publication date: 21 October 2021
Publisher: Faber & Faber

Throughout these poems, with their roving sense of first-person, there is depth at work where the speakers' minds are cavernous and echoic, primal and sophisticated, observant and raw, in and out of control of themselves. The effect is thrilling and unpredictable, at once a dark art and an illumination of unease and loss and wishfulness. The collection features disquieting songs of a mutable self alongside poignant elegies, interior journeys, and subtle (and not so subtle) ripostes to the legacy of Trumpism - while elsewhere encounters with ghostly feet and tongues of fire consort with riffs on Baudelaire, Rilke, and Laforgue. These poems twinkle with mischief and humor, making for a pungent and haunting read. Riordan - a poet whose strong, rippling influence is felt by all in his wake - affirms his reputation at the forefront of contemporary poetry.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE POETRY PIGOTT PRIZE IN ASSOCIATION WITH LISTOWEL WRITERS
WEEK

Throughout these poems, with their roving sense of first-person, there is depth at work where the speakers' minds are cavernous and echoic, primal and sophisticated, observant and raw, in and out of control of themselves. The effect is thrilling and unpredictable, at once a dark art and an illumination of unease and loss and wishfulness. The collection features disquieting songs of a mutable self alongside poignant elegies, interior journeys, and subtle (and not so subtle) ripostes to the legacy of Trumpism - while elsewhere encounters with ghostly feet and tongues of fire consort with riffs on Baudelaire, Rilke, and Laforgue. These poems twinkle with mischief and humor, making for a pungent and haunting read. Riordan - a poet whose strong, rippling influence is felt by all in his wake - affirms his reputation at the forefront of contemporary poetry.

Weight: 215g
Dimension: 225 x 147 x 100 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780571367115
Edition number: Main