Deformations

by Sasha Dugdale

Overview

Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Poetry Prize 2021

Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2020

An Observer Book of the Year 2020

Deformations includes two large-scale works related in their preoccupation with biographical and mythical narrative. 'Welfare Handbook' explores the life and art of Eric Gill, the well-known English letter cutter, sculptor and cultural figure, who is known to have sexually abused his daughters. The poem draws on material from Gill's letters, diaries, notes and essays as part of a lyrical exploration of the conjunction between aesthetics, subjectivity and violence. 'Pitysad' is a series of simultaneously occurring fragments composed around themes and characters from Homer's Odyssey. It considers how trauma is disguised and deformed through myth and art. Acting as a bridge between these two works is a series of individual poems on the creation and destruction of cultural and mythical conventions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781784108984
Publisher:	Carcanet Press, Limited
Publication date:	09/24/2020
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Sasha Dugdale is a poet, translator, and playwright. She has published four collections of poetry with Carcanet, Notebook, The Estate, and Red House. In 2017 she was awarded a Cholmondeley Prize. Between 2012 and 2017 she was editor of Modern Poetry in Translation. She is co-director of the Winchester Poetry Festival.

Table of Contents

Gril and Hare 1

Welfare Handbook

'A female peacock…' 5

'Wondering about a sign…' 6

'Think of a uotpian city…' 7

'At the same time…' 8

'Why add to the shimmering…' 9

An experiment 10

'skivvies are always open…' 11

'sex with…' 12

'angelus at 6…' 13

Me as Bride of Christ at St George's 14

Sexual Antinomianism 15

'mental breakdown is often…' 16

Direct Carving 17

'white poplars…' 18

'lawks…' 19

One x for Mary and xx for May 20

An Interview with the Keeper 21

'eyes averted…' 22

Translations 23

'why do perpetual motion machines…' 24

Headland

Headland 29

Pigment 31

Rosaries in the Sand 32

Eternal Feminine 33

Dark Matter 34

Golden Age 35

The Last Day of Your Childhood 37

The Transported 39

Temple Song 41

Intimacy 43

Odysseus Welcomed From the Sea by Nausicaa 44

Pitysad

Dream of Odysseus 51

'Penelope, lying awake…' 53

'Our shadows are as long…' 54

Dream of a Little West 56

Behind enemy lines 58

The Shadow Prince 59

Salt and Lies 61

'In the green marble…' 63

R&R 65

'A lad barebacked…' 67

Stripclub 68

The Stranger 71

Memorial 73

War Crimes 75

Last Resort 77

Penelope's Dream 78

Shadow People 79

'pitysad man…' 80

Pitysad 81

'sweating in my nightrobe…' 82

The Fall of the Rebel Angels 87

Notes & Acknowledgements 90