Full Description
Playful in earnest, Caroline Bird in her fourth book of poems turns familiar stories on their heads. Adrift in a surreal world of the everyday, Bird's protagonists declaim Chekhov in supermarkets, purchase mail-order tears, sing love-songs to hat-stands. At the centre of the collection Bird evokes the sinister side of Camelot, haunted by the experiments of its crazed tyrant-king. Bird's characters and voices are at once savvy and vulnerable; underlying the exuberance is empathy with those who have lost themselves somewhere along the way. The everyday world of The Hat-Stand Union is beautiful, ominous and full of surprise.
Contents
1 MYSTERY TEARSSealing Wax Username: specialgirl2345 Mothers Snow Hotel Unacceptable Language Mystery Tears Method Acting The Dry WellA Dialogue between Artist and Muse Hey Las Vegas Genesis 9 Possible Reasons for Throwing a Cat into a Wheelie Bin Day Room Faith Dolores There Once Was a Boy Named Bosh Thoughts inside a Head inside a Kennel inside a Church The Only People in Paradise Fantasy Role-Play Empty Nest Spat How the Wild Horse Stopped Me The Island Woman of Coma Dawn
2 THE TRUTH ABOUT CAMELOTPrologue I. A Confident Local Youth II. Some Last Words III. Urchin Who Is Stalking Guinevere's Scullery Maid IV. Camelot Estate Agent V. Exiled Journalist Disguised as Shrub VI. Arthur's Crab-Boy Vision Faces Scalpel Practicalities VII. Crab Quotes VIII. You IX. Raving King Speech X. Lancelot's Poetry Reading in Smoky Bar XI. Arthur, Arthur, Arthur... XII. A Disgruntled Knight
3 SEA BEDDamage This Was All About Me 2:19 to Whitstable Break-up Party Two Cents Run Sea Bed Public Detectives Facts To Whom It May Concern Screening The Promises Say When Kissing What Shall We Do With Your Subconscious? Limerence Medicine Izzy Conqueror Atheism I'm Sorry This Poem Is So Painful The Stock Exchange The Last House The Fun Palace Marriage of Equals Corine
