Say Something Back

Shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award 2016I make this note of dread, I register it.Neither my note not my critique of itWill save us one iota. I know it. And. A fearsome and fearless raging against the dying of the light and the inexorability of grief. Say Something Back will allow readers to see just why the name of Denise Riley has been held in such high regard by her fellow poets for so long. The book reproduces ‘A Part Song’, a profoundly moving document of grieving and loss, and one of the most widely admired long poems of recent years written by Riley as a response to the death of her adult son. Elsewhere these poems become a space for contemplation of the natural world and of physical law, and for the deep consideration of what it is to invoke those who are absent. Finally, they extend our sense of what the act of human speech can mean - and especially what is drawn forth from us when we address our dead. Lyric, intimate, acidly witty, unflinchingly brave, Say Something Back is a deeply moving book by one of our finest poets, and one destined to introduce Riley's name to a wide new readership. ‘It sometimes seems that contemporary poetry divides into two sorts – those poems that did not need to be written and those written out of necessity. Denise Riley belongs to the second category – her writing is perfectly weighted, justifies its existence. It is impossible not to want to “say something back” to each of her poems in recognition of their outstanding quality.’ – The Guardian