Online Launch of Sub/urban Legends by Pam Thompson
Free of charge, we welcome you to join us at the online launch of the 2023 Poetry Pamphlet Prize winner: Sub/urban Legends by Pam Thompson. In addition to readings by the poet, we have guest readings from John McCullough and Robert Hamberger.
Sub/urban Legends gripped me because of the way it marries poignancy with a really bold imagination and stylistic flair. Its poems exploring both experiences of parenthood and mourning the loss of amaternal presence find a great balance of a lively eye and, where it’s most needed, a heartfelt clarity and directness.
The quiet surface of compassionate pieces such as ‘The Glass Strawberry’, which probes self-care, feels hard-won. Elsewhere the constructions thrillingly blend the abstract and the concrete to summon sparks and the poems find exciting juxtapositions, giraffe facts nestling beside Zygons from Doctor Who. It’s a mature and intellectually satisfying gathering that showcases not only formal dexterity through abecedarians and acrostics but a healthy wildness and vitality.
John McCullough
