Summer Sale

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Friday Poem – ‘Peau’ by Damian Walford Davies

Photo of a dusty road bending to the left and disappearing into rocky mountains

This week’s Friday Pome is ‘Peau’ by Damian Walford Davies from his collection Viva Bartali!.

Peau Tour de France, 1938; Stage 14, Col d’Izoard, 22 July From the dustcloud belly of the baggage train, a megaphone bawled out your lead in cracked Italian through the moonscape of the Casse Déserte. There was time enough to notice how a fine grey dust descended on your arms, like mamma’s sifted flour from a sack the colour of the Virgin’s cloak, parching then to snakescale crust, sweat slaking it to clay until the staggered watchers at the summit saw a man of ash thrash past, his face a mask, and wished him such a steeping at Briançon as would be the utter shedding of a skin.

Viva Bartali! and lots more great poetry titles are currently available half-price in our Summer Sale which runs until 1st September 2024. Use the code summer2024 for 50% off any featured title.

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Friday Poem – ‘The Storyteller’ by Abeer Ameer

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘The Storyteller’ by Abeer Ameer from her debut collection Inhale/Exile. This poem is also featured in 100 Poems to Save the Earth.

The cover of Inhale/Exlile shows an expressive painting of someone cutting yellow reeds over a bowl.

Abeer Ameer writes of her forebears in her first collection, Inhale/Exile. Dedicated to the “holders of these stories”, the book begins with a poem about a storyteller on a rooftop in Najaf, Iraq, follows tales of courage and survival, and ends with a woman cooking food for neighbours on the anniversary of her son’s death.

 “…these poems remind us that even in the darkest times, there is light, and there is love.” – Katherine Stansfield

The Storyteller Aesop had nothing on her. The children gather on the rooftop level with the heads of Najaf ’s palm trees, sit cross-legged ready for stories before bed. An uneasy weight on her chest; she’d found her youngest trapping sparrows again. There was and how much there was… She tells the story of a beautiful bulbul. Shiny feathers, bright plumes, how its song filled the air until the king ordered it be caught and caged, kept for his eyes only. Soon its feathers greyed, the light in its eyes vanished, the song in its throat withered. Her eyes wander to that space, empty since his fourth birthday. She continues: The bulbul’s mournful mother searched everywhere for her child, unable to eat or sleep. Both died from sadness. The king, filled with remorse, promised to protect all his kingdom’s wildlife Then he became the kindest, wisest king on earth. And they lived a happy life. She looks to the stars, mutters When you cling to a thing you love it dies. Sometimes when you love you must let go…must let go. Her soft voice trails off. The children focus on the cigarette in her left hand which balances a tower of ash. In her right hand, amber prayer beads; her thumb strokes the top of each before moving it along. She recites Al-Fatiha, scans the sky for the crescent moon.

Inhale/Exile is currently half-price in our bank holiday summer sale. Buy before midnight on Monday 30th August and get your copy for just £4.99! Buy now.

Zoë Brigley and Kristian Evans, co-editors of 100 Poems to Save the Earth, are joining us at Virtual First Thursday on Thursday 2nd September. Tickets are £2.74 (inlc. admin fee) and available through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/168074853411. We’ll also hear some of the contributors read their poems.

This bank holiday weekend, get 50% off all books on our website* in our half-price summer sale. Ends midnight Monday 30th September.

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*marked titles only, subject to availability.

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Friday Poem – ‘St Michael’s’ by Paul Henry

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘St Michael’s’ by Paul Henry from his collection The Glass Aisle.

The Glass Aisle Paul HenryThe Glass Aisle is Paul Henry’s tenth book of verse and features all the lyrical precision, empathy for the human condition and deep sense of temporal loss that have become the hallmarks of his work. The poems move between rage and stillness, past and present, music and silence. The title poem is a moving elegy to displaced workhouse residents, set on a stretch of canal in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in which a telephone engineer unwittingly connects the centuries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Glass Aisle (usually £9.99) is available for just £4.99 on the Seren website this weekend in our half-price Summer Sale!

We’ve got great deals across poetry, fiction and non-fiction all weekend on www.serenbooks.com. Sale ends midnight Monday 3rd August. Happy browsing!