Winner of the MsLexia/Poetry Book Society Women's Poetry Pamphlet Prize 2019
Bloodlines is an exploration of Sarah Wimbush's own Gypsy/Traveller heritage, a journey made by piecing together fragments of distant stories and a scattered language. Along the way, we meet people who are 'tethered to the seasons'; voices that reverberate with a sense of family and resilience, and always with that constant wonder of being part of something colourful, untamed and rare.
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[In the Bloodlines / there's a hooped earring BLOODLINES]***
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I'd never heard of the poet before but I knew I had to read this pamphlet when I read one of the poems in an issue of MsLexia announcing the competition winner. This is a very short book and I read it fairly quickly, even though I took the time to read each poem slowly and carefully. The poems impressed me, vivid, rich and full of detail. I enjoyed every poem but the stand-out poems are the title poem, Gal, John Thomas, Breakfast and Our Jud. I look forward to seeing what else Wimbush has to offer.