Misadventure
published 29th March 2012 by Picador
Misadventure is book about what we learn and what we refuse to learn. And about all the hope and hopelessness lying just below the surface of things, in our rooms, tables, coats and gardens. The book also contains a sequence of poems about fatherhood.
I'd like to hope that Misadventure, my first collection, holds space for the complexities of human emotion; grief, regret, hope, and resilience. And that through its often quiet and tender address, it offers readers a sense of shared vulnerability and an invitation to reflect on their own journeys through life’s unpredictable terrain.
Featured Poem
an excerpt from 'Misadventure'
Winter Morning
Shyly coated in greys, blacks, browns –
to keep us out of sight of the cold –
we weren’t expecting this this morning: sun
and shadows, like a summer’s evening, like summer
teasing. And not quite under the shelter on
the northbound platform, an old man, the sun
behind him, just his crown ablaze; and heading
southbound, a woman inching ever nearer
the platform edge, the light a tear
across her midriff, ribcage, shoulders, closer
and closer that dearest thing, completeness,
all her darkness light at the one time.
