Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A wide ranging collection of poems political and fantastical, leaping from humour to anger with equal passion, and bounding with energy and sassiness whether considering Cathy's own experience of disability, or a science fiction future for cleaners... of stars.
Entitled Erratics for the boulders abandoned by glacial movement, it also captures the drifting sense buried in some extraordinary poems, and Cathy's understanding of isolation - as she says in the introduction:
"The standing stones look strange, and jar the system, yet are absolutely right too.
I was born in the south but I live in the north. I was born into the middle classes but I'm working class by poverty and experience. I know what it's like to be homeless... and I also know the correct way to address a duchess... I don't fit in anywhere - except at poetry events, where you can't know whether the person next to you is a convicted felon, a linguistics professor, or both."
Synopsis
In the red corner: the muck, grit and harsh truths of life. In the blue corner: the beauty of the natural world and the vivid variety provided by imagination. Cathy Bryant is dancing about somewhere in between.
To continue the boxing ring metaphor to a silly (but possibly accurate) degree, the other two corners are culture and experience, the canvas is time and I'm on the ropes of conscience.
For Cathy is stuck as a misfit. Born in the south, she lives in the north. from a middle class home, she is working class by poverty and experience. She knows what it's like to be homeless, and what it's like to pick a dirty penny off the pavement and be happy to have it, and she also know the correct way to address a duchess, and whether to put the milk in first. She doesn't fit in anywhere - except at poetry events, where you can't know whether the person next to you is a convicted felon, a linguistics professor, or both.