Front cover artwork
Abstrakter Kopf ‘Lebenstropfen’ (1928)
by Alexej von Jawlensky
my father
back from the wars
bringing his stories
of diving under tables
in Brighton
freezing all night on guard
in Warrington
chasing across ploughed fields
in Wales
prisoners of war
Heart work is Desmond Graham's sixth book of poetry since 1993. A single poem sequence, it begins in the Second World War and advances in diverse and unforeseen directions as the poet attempts to understand the nature of the heart. Historical and public events blend with the private life of the poet as he learns about the world around him.
Heart work is part memoir, part a quiet and often humorous account of ‘the growth of a poet’s mind’, but always a love poem. The poem is driven by a strong narrative that involves the reader in the poet’s quest to discover what is it full of/the heart? It builds, as an oratorio builds, through motif and counterpoint, through dramatic changes of pace and tone, to its surprising finale.
‘Heart work is clearly the work of a man with an open heart and a sharp intellect. The thoughts he offers are sensitive and deep, and he does not just hand them to you, but makes a place for you to sit beside him and look around. His poems challenge us to see the world as a place of connections and connectedness.’
— Daniel Thomas Moran, in Poetry Salzburg Review (Number 13)
‘Graham — has a way of finding...fugitive rays of light.’
— Nicholas Murray, Poetry Wales
Heart work is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Heart work costs £8.00 and was published in October 2007.
ISBN: 978-1-873226-90-2
Until recently Desmond Graham was Professor of Poetry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, but is now a full-time writer with homes in Newcastle and Southern Germany. Flambard Press has published four themed collections by him, After Shakespeare (2001), Milena poems (2004), Heart work (2007) and The Green Parakeet (2009), as well as Two Darknesses (1994), a selection of poems by the major Polish poet Anna Kamienska that he co-translated. Graham’s poems have been widely translated into Polish and French. His is also well known as the biographer and editor of the poet Keith Douglas.
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Flambard Press Ltd is a non-commercial, not-for-profit limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 05983763.
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