The Strange Matter

These poems span streets and gardens, books and films, people and things, creating a landscape that feels both close and surreal.

Sometimes the language is sharp, sometimes lavish, each poem a document of life as a waking dream, a relentless exploration of the everyday. Ali Jane Smith writes, 'It is a relief to turn thoughts and feelings into a poem. Sometimes it is like making a chair, and sometimes it is like smashing concrete with a crowbar.' Here, the chair might wobble, the cracks in the concrete twist like rivers. They take you somewhere, or they tell you something.