Symbolic landscapes and settings are to the fore in Adrian Blamires’ second collection, in poems that explore myth and memory.
Whether the subject is love, war or poetry itself, the pangs of conscience and desire are felt throughout. The poet draws upon a range of forms and traditions, from sonnet to narrative ballad, from pastoral to satirical. The versatility is striking, but what unifies the collection is a sense of measured intensity, an unfailing wit, verve and musicality.
Responses to the poetry of Adrian Blamires:
"Poems of acute contemporary relevance, in a language at once lyrical and demotic."
Elizabeth Garrett
"Ingenious, an aspiring Muldoonian."
Carol Rumens, The Guardian
"Light-years in the living-room… scale-drawings in which the everyday becomes unnerving."
Maria Barnas
"A fine, meditative poet."
Jane Draycott
Adrian Blamires' debut collection, The Effect of Coastal Processes (Two Rivers Press, 2005) was a Waterstone's ‘Best New Poetry’ selection and the title poem was read on Radio 4's Poetry Please. Adrian teaches English in a sixth form college in Basingstoke. He attended the Thin Raft poetry workshop during the 1990s.
The Pang Valley
No pang, no poem.
If Frost was right,
Then what to say
About delight,
About the way
We turn and dally
Before this view
Along the valley
The Pang runs through?
Whether the subject is love, war or poetry itself, the pangs of conscience and desire are felt throughout. The poet draws upon a range of forms and traditions, from sonnet to narrative ballad, from pastoral to satirical. The versatility is striking, but what unifies the collection is a sense of measured intensity, an unfailing wit, verve and musicality.
Responses to the poetry of Adrian Blamires:
"Poems of acute contemporary relevance, in a language at once lyrical and demotic."
Elizabeth Garrett
"Ingenious, an aspiring Muldoonian."
Carol Rumens, The Guardian
"Light-years in the living-room… scale-drawings in which the everyday becomes unnerving."
Maria Barnas
"A fine, meditative poet."
Jane Draycott
Adrian Blamires' debut collection, The Effect of Coastal Processes (Two Rivers Press, 2005) was a Waterstone's ‘Best New Poetry’ selection and the title poem was read on Radio 4's Poetry Please. Adrian teaches English in a sixth form college in Basingstoke. He attended the Thin Raft poetry workshop during the 1990s.
The Pang Valley
No pang, no poem.
If Frost was right,
Then what to say
About delight,
About the way
We turn and dally
Before this view
Along the valley
The Pang runs through?