We are delighted to reveal our first cover of 2023.
The Undoing by Elizabeth Stott features the sublime painting, Spooky Action at a Distance by Cumbrian based artist Alison Critchlow.
Elizabeth describes the poems in The Undoing as a diverse selection linked as an exploration of selfhood and our place in the universe.
The Undoing will be released on the 28 April 2023 and we’ll have news of launch events coming very soon.
Knowing
She slips the loose dress right off
when the young doctor comes to examine her.
She wears nothing underneath
and the doctor can see everything.
Coyly, she looks up at him,
knowing he can see her body
with the eyes of a man.
He asks the nurse to help her to dress.
But not before he sees the sores,
the flaps where breasts once swelled,
the pubis bare and purpled, the sagging skin
that seems to have no connection with the bones
that try to shape a woman’s lovely frame
out of the past tense.
Later, he tells his young wife
that she is beautiful,
that he will always love her.
Ladybird
Wait
for him
an afternoon.
Watch
the slow march
of light across the room.
Watch a blank-faced door. Wait.
Read the pamphlet given.
A tea tray rattles.
Glimpse
a polished desk
a row of family portraits in wooden frames:
perhaps – a wife, children.
Read the pamphlet given.
Perhaps, you’ll
notice the blue carpet,
a scattering of biscuit crumbs
a place where the pile is worn.
Read the pamphlet given.
See the little ladybird trapped by the glass,
it wants to go home. It wants to go home.
Elizabeth Stott was born in Kent, and has moved north in stages, settling in Cumbria where she has lived for over 25 years. A physics graduate, she worked in industry before taking time out to raise her family. As an antidote to the domestic, she started writing fiction and poetry, which has developed to include work in varied form and genre. She has published work in magazines, anthologies, for spoken word events and as a Nightjar chapbook and a collection of fiction.
You can find out more at Elizabeth’s blog https://elizabethstott.wordpress.com/about/
Alison Critchlow is a contemporary British painter with a broad, investigative approach. She splits her time between studio practice and educational work- talks, collaborative projects and exhibitions. She is currently researching the work of Hedda Sterne with funding from Arts Council England.
Find out more here: https://www.alisoncritchlow.co.uk/
