Afterlife: New & Selected Poems by Polly Clark Jen Hadfield historical—and the collective memory of

historical—and the collective memory of poetry itself are wrenched out of shape by dramatic disruptions in rhythm

the masks and headgear that we wear so as to try to interpret the nature of Nature

playing at the the tensions between the impulse to guard one's 'inner life' and the knowledge that

but the work's true force comes from what they share – the patient returning to the water

70s queer night-clubbers and the poet’s own mixed-race parents

Afterlife: New & Selected Poems by Polly Clark Jen Hadfield historical—and the collective memory ofPolly Clark's poetry inhabits a world that is strange, unsettling, and edged with danger. Her debut, Kiss (2000), journeys inward, exploring the self with an unflinching gaze, before Take Me with You (2005) turns outward to question how we connect with others, with the wider world, with the unknown. In these collections, her characters, both human and animal, speak in many voices, illuminating the moments when we are most alive and most alone.