This collection dazzles with the sophisticated wit we have come to expect from this distinctive poet. Key themes recur: the opening sequence explores the many different sorts of heat -spiritual, sexual, emotional - inspired by the drought of 1995; the piano tuner himself is the almost God-like symbol of the longing for harmony that courses through the book, along with the clockmaker's pregnant daughter; and the albatross, a recurring symbol of redemption, is discovered enshrined frozen in an iceberg in the final tour de force, 'The Iceberg in the City of Charred Gothic and Glass'.
Liardet's endlessly inventive conceits and formal skills complement intensely human and personal concerns. There is always a heart at the centre of the maze: "for Liardet", wrote J .P. Ward in Acumen, "control is all, and the art lies in the degree to which profound emotion is diverted into the deep part of the mind where it can turn into a search for exact vocabularies."
"Liardet brings a weighty tone of voice... making something new and strange"
William Scammell, Independent on Sunday
"It is a voice rich in undertones and the poems are like jazz tunes in which melodic lines have been dissolved into chordal patterns, remaining barely discernible but tantalisingly present. Whilst the narrative line of the poems is often elliptical or only partially glimpsed, the language compels our attention through its shifting exactitudes, each phrase acrobatic and adroit"
Graham Mort, Poetry Wales
Tim Liardet was born in London and educated at the University of York. He has travelled extensively and worked in the fields of Information Technology and Marketing. Widely published, he currently works as a freelance writer, editor and tutor.
Liardet's endlessly inventive conceits and formal skills complement intensely human and personal concerns. There is always a heart at the centre of the maze: "for Liardet", wrote J .P. Ward in Acumen, "control is all, and the art lies in the degree to which profound emotion is diverted into the deep part of the mind where it can turn into a search for exact vocabularies."
"Liardet brings a weighty tone of voice... making something new and strange"
William Scammell, Independent on Sunday
"It is a voice rich in undertones and the poems are like jazz tunes in which melodic lines have been dissolved into chordal patterns, remaining barely discernible but tantalisingly present. Whilst the narrative line of the poems is often elliptical or only partially glimpsed, the language compels our attention through its shifting exactitudes, each phrase acrobatic and adroit"
Graham Mort, Poetry Wales
Tim Liardet was born in London and educated at the University of York. He has travelled extensively and worked in the fields of Information Technology and Marketing. Widely published, he currently works as a freelance writer, editor and tutor.