Suit of Lights - Softcover

Walford Davies, Damian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 185411493X ISBN 13: 9781854114938

Publisher: Seren, 2009

Synopsis

Fascinated by serrations of light, parodies of shadow, and all other shades in the color spectrum, this poetry collection mixes the logical with the magical, the brutal with the beautiful, the real with the divine. Whether baring the beaten flesh of a 1951 boxing match, witnessing the luminous shirts along a country lane, experiencing the surreal sight of bizarre urban attire, or symbolizing a bat skeleton and the scales of a dying fish, each stylistic device cloaks the human experience with suits of light. Refusing to shy away from the disturbing and violent—such as a bagged fox, a landscape decimated by atomic aftershock, or a sweet aria sung to the accompaniment of artillery fire—this collection offsets every dark with a point of light. Containing a number of sequences, this volume includes a response to Francis Kilvert's 19th-century Victorian diary, a reading of the life of 10 contemporary paintings, the result of a Cessna flight over Wales, and a series of letters to a master architect.

About this title

About the Author

Damian Walford Davies is the coauthor of Whiteout, a collection of poetry. He has been published in English, Modern Poetry in Translation, Oxford Magazine, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Wales, and Scintilla.

Review

"Walford Davies is adept at noticing things and transforming them in the process of rendering into something rich and strange."  —Planet

"[These] lines startle with freshness . . . and animation . . . Here, in tension, are violence and beauty, a nod to the Welsh music of alliteration, a jab of Latin economy, the fluid assurance of Walford Davies' own technique. This is a poetry which does not need to court the present, and rock. It is itself. It sings."  —The North 44

"The presentation is economical but clear. The line breaks are wittily judged. The diction pulses with the power of different registers and the accompanying emotional gear-changes are psychologically satisfying."  —New Welsh Review

Edition details

• Publisher: Seren
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 185411493X
• ISBN 13: 9781854114938
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64