Same Difference (Paperback)

Ben Wilkinson

ISBN 10: 1781726485 / ISBN 13: 9781781726488

Published by Poetry Wales Press, Bridgend, 2022

About this Item

Paperback. Same Difference is the formally acute second collection from poet and critic Ben Wilkinson. Carefully crafted yet charged with contemporary language, the poems experiment with poetic voice and the dramatic monologue, keeping the reader on their toes and asking just who is doing the talking. Tough, gritty, and often moving, this is a collection for our times.An understanding of the human spirit and the complexity of relationships underpin these poems. Brimming with everyone from cage fighters and boy-racers to cancer patients and whales in captivity, Wilkinson unpicks the preconceptions and prejudices that inform our encounters with the world.He casts a scrutinising eye on the mystery of failed and successful relationships, male depression, the history of meat eating. He takes a sideways glance at sport, particularly the rewards of running, to which he is a noted devotee, and the philosophy behind athletic competition.Throughout, he steps into the shoes of French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896). Finding affinity with Verlaines astringent tone and ruthless clarity, Wilkinson borrows his punchy and musical phrasing to reframe Verlaines voice for modern readers.Seeking to undermine the confessional mode throughout, Wilkinson often weaves his arguments with traditional rhyme and metre. This formally elegant, wide-ranging collection sits firmly in the twenty-first century. Same Difference is Ben Wilkinson's formally acute second collection. Carefully crafted yet charged with contemporary language, the poems experiment with poetic voice and the dramatic monologue, keeping the reader on their toes and asking just who is doing the talking. Tough, gritty, and often moving, this is a collection for our times. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781781726488

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Same Difference (Paperback)
• Publisher: Poetry Wales Press, Bridgend
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1781726485
• ISBN 13: 9781781726488
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This ambitious new collection from poet and critic Ben Wilkinson finds its author experimenting with poetic voice and the dramatic monologue. Carefully crafted yet charged with contemporary language, the book brims with everyone from cage fighters to boy-racers, cancer patients to whales in captivity. Several poems unpick the preconceptions and prejudices that can inform so many of our encounters—with the world, art, and one another—while others take a sideways glance at everything from male depression to the history of meat-eating; from the philosophy behind athletic competition to surreal yet familiar emotions. Notable here are poems that wrestle with the mystery of failed and successful relationships, both providing moments of transcendence and despair. There are well-observed pieces about sport, particularly the rewards of running, from a noted devotee. While empathetic and often moving, Same Difference is a collection that seeks to undermine the confessional mode, keeping the reader on their toes and asking just who is doing the talking. It is also formally elegant, often using traditional rhyme and metre to weave its arguments.

About the Author

Ben Wilkinson lives in Sheffield, Yorkshire. His poems and criticism regularly appear in national publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, The Poetry Review, The Spectator, and the Time Literary Supplement. His debut full collection of poems, Way More Than Luck, was published by Seren in 2018 and won a Northern Writers Award. A critical study, Don Paterson: Writers and their Work, appeared in 2021. With Kim Moore and Paul Deaton he co-edited The Result Is What You See Today (2019), an anthology of poems about running. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Bolton.