The debut collection from the winner of the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award is a mixture of innovative, but understated language, precise observation and simple twists of perspective; it is the kind of poetry that lodges itself in the consciousness and resonates long after reading. Long sequences take us into life of Saint Cuthbert, Emily Dickinson and Emily Bronte combine visceral, muscular details with honed language and exquisite poignancy, while elsewhere the language is swift and playful. A strong sense of place presides throughout – "North remembers smoke, the taste of it/ the curd of it, raising a welt on stone."

An extraordinarily accomplished and mature debut.

"Sue Wood is a successful and well-established writer in more than one genre, but her new book of poetry shows the great range she manages within that single form. Here the reader will find moving poems of motherhood, but also thoughtful ones on historical subjects going back to the earliest days of human evolution. Meditations on Bede and Emily Dickinson achieve sympathetic insight as do those inspired by Michaelangelo, Vermeer and Edward Hopper. Nature is sensitively observed even registering the horror of Foot and Mouth on the agricultural community. This book is the fruit of an intelligent, inquiring mind and an open heart, of intellectual distinction and emotional engagement; various and rewarding as the world it so wonderfully inhabits. It is to be recommended to all serious readers of contemporary poetry.”
Ian Duhig

Susan Wood lives in West Yorkshire. She is a recent winner of the Cinnamon Press Poetry Award and has also been placed in many other national poetry competitions.