The Long Beds explores the cell-like containment of the small hours when the body has no estate but its bed, while - waking or dreaming - the mind sets out on its travels, often in the realms of an old life, cherished items or relinquished connections. Central to the poems' imagery is the presence of a bedstead that has survived a bombing raid, protecting only what was bundled underneath it. In painterly language Kate Miller also trains her eye and ear outwards on grand, impersonal scenes: London at dawn, riverbanks and docks, the corridors of a great hospital: to uncover fogged experience and restore colour to memory. Her poems prod us awake at first light and release us into the morning.
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Fox shrieks, it is the hour of fox, patrols between late taxis and dawn trucks. OUTSIDE THE MIND SHOP
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(@Carcanet, 30 July 2020, ebook, 80 pages, borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveLibs)
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This is a new poet for me. One of the best things about being a member of the National Poetry Library is that there are always new poets and new collections and anthologies to discover. I'm glad I stumble across The Long Beds and look forward to reading more of the poet's work. I enjoyed the variety of poems on offer both in terms of format / structure and subject matter. Each page held a surprise. Among the best poems are Flag, The Quarters and Album Without Photographs.