by Luke Wright (Author)
An escaped lion roams the streets of Essex; a lonely pensioner holds a tower block fete; and a young woman dreams of leaving home. Travel the unfashionable A-roads and commuter lines of England -'where industry meets marsh'- with poet Luke Wright. In his stunning new collection, discover a country riven by inequality and corruption but sustained by a surreal, gallow's humour. The Toll combines the elegaic with the anarchic, placing uproarious satire cheek-by-jowl with wild experiments in form and touching poems of parenthood. In this mature follow-up to his best-selling debut, Mondeo Man, Wright captures the strain of austerity Britain, speaking truth to power and registering the toll it takes on us all.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 94
Publisher: Penned in the Margins
Published: 02 Feb 2017
ISBN 10: 1908058420
ISBN 13: 9781908058423
REVIEWS
Sharp, gritty and warm by turns ... an overview of the mingled corruptions, humour and blessings of living in ... modern Britain.
THE SKINNY
Life in today's Britain takes its toll on so many, including the characters in the poems, and no contemporary poet understands or conveys that better than [Luke] Wright.
JACQUELINE SAPHRA, THE POETRY SCHOOL
The Toll is a rich collection that is diversely peppered with the comedic and the moving. A master of sound, [Wright] invokes the traditional poetry canon and places it with the decidedly modern reflections of the state of England in 2017.
CHLOE VAUGHAN, THE MANCHESTER REVIEW
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PRAISE FOR LUKE WRIGHT
Visceral, poignant and riotously funny
THE SCOTSMAN
Celebratory, mournful, critical and tender
POETRY LONDON