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Synopsis
Ros Barber’s second book forms a meditation on human loss. Sarah Law described her in Orbis as ‘a “traditional” contemporary poet along the lines of Larkin’ and it is Barber’s sure hand with rhyme and meter that gives the hard material of these poems (both personal losses and those experienced through others) their steady focus and makes them so readable. Throughout, the poetry remains strong, thoughtful and refreshing. The book is in five sections, of which the first explores losses marital, maternal and ‘domestic’. Following sections include a sequence about descent into (and recovery from) extreme weight loss following a love affair, and a group of poems written for Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery in 2007 inspired by four works of art. The book’s longest section, ‘Missing’, is interspersed with poems that point towards resolution, even redemption. The last section, ‘Test Series’, explores the loss that provoked the writing of the book – the death of the poet’s mother, killed unexpectedly while on holiday in Thailand. Ros Barber was born in 1964 in Washington DC. After growing up in Colchester, she studied Biology at the University of Sussex, and then English Literature and Philosophy with the Open University, while working as a computer programmer. Since 2000 she has worked as a freelance writer and creative writing tutor for the University of Sussex. Married with four children and living in Brighton, she is currently completing PhD research into the idea that Christopher Marlowe wrote the works of Shakespeare. “Barber’s special distinction is that she has succeeded in writing a collection which grants as much to the general reader as it does to the devotee of contemporary poetry.” – Kate Keogan, PN Review “Her poems have an enviable clarity and confidence, tough and edgy, but also full of lyrical turns and flourishes. ‘How Things Are on Thursday’ is an honest, unflinching and hugely satisfying debut.” — Neil Rollinson on Ros Barber’s first collection
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