{"product_id":"afterlife-new-selected-poems-paperback","title":"Afterlife: New \u0026 Selected Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003ePolly Clark\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePolly Clark's poetry inhabits a world that is strange, unsettling, and edged with danger. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis retrospective of her work drawns upon her collections \u003ci\u003eKiss \u003c\/i\u003e(2000), the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlisted \u003ci\u003eTake Me with You\u003c\/i\u003e (2005), and \u003ci\u003eFarewell My Lovely\u003c\/i\u003e (2009), plus \u003ci\u003eAfterlife\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of new poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer debut, \u003ci\u003eKiss\u003c\/i\u003e, journeys inward, exploring the self with an unflinching gaze, before \u003ci\u003eTake Me with You\u003c\/i\u003e turns outward to question how we connect - with others, with the wider world, with the unknown. In these collections, her characters, both human and animal, speak in many voices, illuminating the moments when we are most alive - and most alone. \u003ci\u003eFarewell My Lovely\u003c\/i\u003e grapples with the price of survival, charting the experience of leaving one's life behind and returning as a stranger. By turns moving and darkly comic, these poems examine the ways we cling to who we were, even as certainty dissolves and the past slips beyond reach. This retrospective of her poetry opens with a magical new collection - also called \u003ci\u003eAfterlife\u003c\/i\u003e - in which there are no physical limits, nothing is stable and the world is distilled to its elements. The traumatic experience of rape transforms a girl into a tiger, and a tiger into a girl; a whale embraces both air and water until forced to inhabit only one by jealous fish. The poems grapple with the inexplicable nature of some experience, suggesting that we are most real in that mysterious space between living and dying. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePolly Clark is an award-winning poet and novelist. Her first collection, \u003ci\u003eKiss\u003c\/i\u003e, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her second\u003ci\u003e, Take Me with You\u003c\/i\u003e, a Poetry Book Society Choice, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePolly Clark\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Canada and brought up in Scotland. She received an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1997. Three collections followed from Bloodaxe: the first, \u003ci\u003eKiss\u003c\/i\u003e (2000), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; her second, \u003ci\u003eTake Me with You\u003c\/i\u003e (2005), was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize; her third was \u003ci\u003eFarewell My Lovely\u003c\/i\u003e (2009). Her debut novel, \u003ci\u003eLarchfield\u003c\/i\u003e (Quercus, 2017), fictionalised a little-known period in the life of W.H. Auden. It won the Mslexia Prize, as well as critical plaudits from Margaret Atwood, Louis de Bernières and Richard Ford. Her follow-up, \u003ci\u003eTiger\u003c\/i\u003e (Quercus, 2019), was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. Her third novel, \u003ci\u003eOcean\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by Eye Books in the UK and Lightning Books in the US in 2025. She divides her time between the west of Scotland and a houseboat in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 208\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 14, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53502445945139,"sku":"9781780373720","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/64BXVQsnbw9781780373720.webp?v=1781641872","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/afterlife-new-selected-poems-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}