Self-Portrait in the Dark

<p>The dark attunes our eyes to detail the light can sometimes conceal; similarly Colette Bryce's new poems are 'slant tellings' that reveal strange and true reflections. Using a wide range of imaginative strategies Bryce examines the ways in which time is held space enclosed - and a life framed and given meaning: a face in a broken mirror a spider trapped under a glass or a stolen kiss in a car-wash. Bryce's two previous prize-winning collections were widely admired for their marvellously seductive music and their speed of thought; Self-Portrait in the Dark widens and deepens the poet's scope and is her most emotionally compelling collection to date.</p><p> Praise for <i>The Full Indian Rope Trick</i></p><p> '[Bryce's] poems sensitive as the needle that registers some distant earth tremor are delicately poised . . . Bryce's vision is questing disquieting dark . . . as she seeks out the truths of life and love that transform the human heart. This is a confident complex subversive collection that shows us the magic by which one becomes a mature poet' <i> The Times</i></p>