Böcker av Cassandra Atherton

In this volume, five prose poets explore the Five major oceans as they are currently classified: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern and the Arctic.Each 21-part sequence of poems is a particular-and sometimes oblique-rumination on one of these vast bodies of water. Together they offer an inspiring and sometimes troubling exploration of our relationship with what is, essentially, a single oceanic entity.

In these prose poem sequences, five diff erent tastes are explored, not only with reference to food and drink, but also through their metaphorical use. There are innumerable ways of 'tasting' and apprehending the world, and these poems canvass a wide range of them while also encouraging readers to consider their own diverse tastes, preferences and experiences.

Hesiod's Five Ages famously proides a vision of the decline of human society that has resonated for many centuries. In this anthology, five poets take Hesiod's versions of the golden, silver, bronze, heroic and iron ages as their starting points to craft five individual 'chapbooks' of prose poetry - not only exploring notions from Hesiodbut also venturing into many new concepts that reconceptualise these ages.These twenty-first century poems challenge many of the archaic Greek poet's assumptions and ideas, writing back to the ancient world with bravura while employing quintessentially contemporary inflections and preoccupations.

This latest project of ''authorised theft'' amongst poetic friends sees them raiding the 19th century for inspiration-across a variety of artforms. But C19 here is not just a past century; it is also the terrible present moment in which we live, and in which this remarkable collaborative work has been written.

When Charity finds letters, journals and sketches in the roof of her great-aunt's house, she uncovers a rich family history that she must piece together from fragments. Great-aunt Birdie's letters to her lover are a compelling and revealing account of life for many women in the 1930s. Her experiences as an artist in the first decades of the century, and her earlier relationship with a young man who goes to war, also provide powerful insights into a woman who, as Charity begins to suspect, wanted more than her era would allow.