the swailing

Patrick Errington's first collection explores the delicate boundaries between presence and absence, keeping and killing, cruelty and tenderness, using vivid images, formal grace, and subtle humor to stoke the flickers of life that hold fast against unforgiving terrain. The language functions like a controlled burn, preserving, perfecting, or reducing to ash.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 120 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2023
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

In his debut collection, Patrick Errington explores the delicate interplay between presence and absence, life and death, cruelty and tenderness. Through the lens of fire-haunted landscapes, Errington weaves a tapestry of human voices that whisper amidst the natural world, creating vivid images and employing formal grace and subtle humor to capture the essence of existence in rugged terrain. The language in these poems functions as a controlled burn, capable of preserving, perfecting, or reducing life to ash.

Urgent and resonant, the collection burns to the ember-edge of grief, memory, and control, seeking to uncover the wildness, wilderness, and wonder that persist amidst the harsh realities of existence. Errington's poems are a testament to the human spirit's resilience and capacity for transformation, offering a glimpse into the depths of the human experience and the enduring power of nature.

With their rich imagery, formal elegance, and subtle humor, these poems invite readers to explore the boundaries between presence and absence, life and death, and cruelty and tenderness. They serve as a reminder that even in the most challenging circumstances, there is always the potential for beauty, wonder, and the discovery of new meaning.

Dimension: 191 x 127 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228016755