A fascinating pamphlet of love poems all themed around the poet’s single object of desire. In this beautifully illustrated collection, Richard O’Brien deploys every trick in the love poet’s book, resulting in a irresistible mix of tender odes, introspective sonnets, exuberant free verse and anthems of sexual persuasion. The poems plunge from ecstasy into melancholy from couplet to couplet, and the book as a whole stands as a defiant sally against the pressures of long-distance relationships. Loosely inspired by the Roman poet Ovid’s Amores.
Lincolnshire poet Richard O’Brien studied English and French at Oxford University and hosted an English-language radio show on EU Radio Nantes after graduating in 2012. He is now studying Shakespeare and Creativity at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon.
His first pamphlet, your own devices, was published by tall-lighthouse press in 2011, as part of the Pilot series for British and Irish poets under 30. His work has since featured in Poetry London, the Erotic Review, The Salt Book of Younger Poets and The Best British Poetry 2013. His blog, The Scallop-Shell, is dedicated to the close reading of contemporary poetry and he recently performed his poems at the BBC Proms Lates. His second full pamphlet, A Bloody Mess, will be published by Ink Lines (an imprint of Valley Press) towards the end of 2013.