Poetry Pamphlet Prize

Sub/urban Legends by Pam Thompson

Winner of the 2023 Poetry Pamphlet Prize

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