Close-Up

<p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>'Mary Oliver famously said that our endless and proper work as poets is to pay attention and indeed Quentin Cowdry's keen almost forensic gaze is evident in every poem in this collection. Precise imagery and unflinching emotional insights bring us face to face with life with all its complexities and ambiguities; insights into what it is to be human and flawed. Close-Up is both troubling and affirming - an exciting debut.'</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14 class=ql-align-right><strong>Moyra Donaldson</strong></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>'There is an unnerving intimacy about Quentin Cowdry's work even in public places; parks beaches pine forests are settings for painful human observation for acute questioning. Details fix insights focus speculations often at the poet's expense whether they be a tie pin a coat hanger or the small neat hoop of her waist.</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>It is clear that he does not escape the scrutiny he brings to bear on a species sometimes shabby even shameful but always fascinating. In one of his most troubling poems Cowdry signs off with a breathtaking coup of emotional anatomy:</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>The vocal heart beneath its screen of bone (Making Peace with Landeg)</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>Exactly so. Language cuts both ways in poems that are indeed close-ups verbal screenshots of the imperfect.'</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14 class=ql-align-right><strong>Peter Pegnall</strong></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>'Close-Up has a beautiful completeness to it. The poet takes us on a compelling journey through the arc of life from youth to maturity family and mortality. Each poem is a subtle vignette deftly sketched finely observed with a light touch resonating in the mind page after page.'</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14 class=ql-align-right><strong>Colin Pink</strong></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14>'The deftness depth and breadth of this pamphlet make it as rewarding as reading a full collection. An original assured new poetic voice and a highly accomplished debut.'</p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14></p><p data-sleek-node-id=a03a14 class=ql-align-right><strong>Konstandinos Mahoney</strong></p>