The Age of Destruction and Lies

<p class=ql-align-justify>In this new book of poems Rupert Loydell writes about the world he now finds himself living in questioning the damage caused by time memory lockdown aging politics lies neglect and disinformation. Whether grappling with social history corrupt data road-building Grenfell Tower urban graffiti faith and fine art or 'the fickleness of language' these damaged prayers and disbelieving explorations are 'configured for maximum twitch'. And despite the resigned conclusion that 'we are only ever likely to have a clear backwards view' and even though 'it is totally absurd to expect answers that might help explain our world' Loydell clings to the way that 'memory is all about being able to change the past' and notes that 'the future is here right now'.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>'At times hard-hitting at times biting Loydell's poems pull beauty from the broken contexts of a rudderless society. It is poetry of rebellion and of urgency that underscores the need for poetry art conversation and friendship in what is rapidly becoming an alienating contextless world.' -Andrea Moorhead</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>'Rupert Loydell's world is strangely beautiful or beautifully strange but it's also strangely familiar. What I like about Loydell's work is his commitment to a kind of truth not to experience so much as to language.' -<em>Magma</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>'Loydell explores how we navigate the world around us seen and unseen; how we might wonder explain and start to understand.' -<em>Between</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>'[...] brilliantly surreal acutely observed and funny.' -<em>Ambit</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><br></p><p class=ql-align-center><br></p><p><br></p>