21st July, 2017

Friday Poem – ‘The 2nd Razumovsky Quartet and the Reductionists’, Vuyelwa Carlin

Our Friday Poem this week is ‘The 2nd Razumovsky Quartet and the Reductionists’, from Vuyelwa Carlin’s fourth collection, The Solitary.

Known for her distinctive style that owes something to Emily Dickinson’s brevity, Carlin is a surprising and unusual voice in modern poetry. This fourth collection features four distinct sections: the first includes a series of poems dedicated to two young grandchildren and to an autistic son. The second concerns itself with music, art, ageing and dementia. The third section has poems that recall the landcscape and people of Africa; there are also vivid pieces about wartime Poland, the Third Reich and the Holocaust. The final, title section, ‘The Solitary’, is a long sonnet sequence inspired by the lives of religious solitaires.

The Solitary is half price (£3.99) on the Seren website until midnight, Sunday 23 July, as part of our summer sale.

The Solitary is available from the Seren website: RRP £7.99 £3.99 (until midnight, Sunday 23 July)

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