Chris Woods

Synopsis

Chris Woods has been described by Anne Stevenson as 'a poet of hope for everyday life'. Influenced by his profession as a GP, his verse is both 'observant and unsentimental' (Douglas Dunn) and for all its precision is always driven by compassion and tenderness.

This second collection sees a richer and deeper exploration of key themes: the human exchanges at the heart of his practice as a doctor, the stresses placed on modern parents by a growing family, the impulse towards self-exile and isolation, as well as the means by which even the greatest losses and stresses can be survived.

As with his first book, Recovery, these poems remind us to take time out from our lives, from ourselves, and shares with us both the pleasures and surprises that come with even the smallest skive…

Reviews

Praise for the Poet

With this new collection, Chris Woods achieves a genuine unity of subject matter and expression. In language that is taut, pared-down, he travels through everyday family life – holidays, music, swimming, TV news, the drive to work - whilst also charting a darker quest for personal metamorphosis – for a kind of release, or new simplicity. His poems are self-effacing and matter of fact yet he dives deep and finally surfaces into space and light. It is a moving and affective journey.
- Amanda Dalton

‘Chris Woods’ poetry always has the sense of a direct hit, of an image or metaphor cleverly retrieved and accurately placed so that, whether he is writing about the mixed pleasures of a family holiday or the claustrophobia or modern living, the reader is able to recognise familiar dilemmas at the same time as relishing their strangeness.’
- Gerard Woodward

‘The things of this world are celebrated here in their fullness, as both ordinary and extraordinary. Chris Woods trails his magic medicine through these poems with precision and humanity’.
- Linda Chase

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Details
ISBN 978 190558315
Publisher Comma Press
Genre Poetry
Extent 72pp