A gothic and unflinching debut collection, Ellis’s poems are haunted by the ghosts of adolescent past and the melancholic self.
Some snatch the reader in, while others soothingly lure. But in all, the troubled narrator ends with a yearning and longing for something more.
Little Thorns in the Back of the Throat are the Hardest to Remove
“It’s a tickle at first.
A small little thorn.
Easy pickings for trained tweezers –
just a little tug at that well known
little-but-not-so-little
(actually reasonably large),
pink and white flurry of
hot flashes and cold shakes
and steadily building nausea
in my stomach, throat, face, eyes –
and it dawns on me
that I have, once again, fallen
for my own self-defeating tricks
as I press the thorn back into
its fleshy hole.”
These poems crawl up your spine, pinch and pull and settle themselves deep in your mind. A brilliant debut collection by a fresh voice.
Available from Planet Books and signed copies available from Caitlin Ellis’s website