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Drysalter

This collection of poems is his most ambitious to date, and an attempt to work on a broader canvas than most contemporary collections. Made up of 150 poems of 15 lines each, this book is rooted in detailed study of some of the great poetic sequences of the twentieth century, notably John Berryman’s Dream Songs, but also more recent work by Geoffrey Hill (The Triumph of Love in particular) that attempt a sequence on a similar scale. Some of the structural and thematic principles (the number 150, the juxtaposition of communal and personal poems, direct address to God with indirect, poems of praise with poems of anger/blame) behind the work come from the Psalms, and this led MSR into research discussions with theologians and experts on Hebrew poetry including Professor Ellen Davis of Duke University and Professor Sarah Coakley of Cambridge University. A BBC Radio 4 commission to write new translated ‘versions’ of the Biblical texts Song of Songs and Lamentations led to deeper research into Hebrew poetry (notably Esmee Kingsmill’s work on Song of Songs), which fed into the developing poems for Drysalter. In its attempt to work close to (but outside) the sonnet form, Drysalter led to a process of further research into sonnet sequences (especially John Donne’s Holy Sonnets) and contemporary work on short poetic forms by poets such as Ciaran Carson, Kevin Hart and the longer formal experiments (and sequence writing) of Jorie Graham. In its attempt to explore faith, grace, theodicy, religious doubt and dissent - Drysalter included philosophical theology in its research process, including work by Rowan Williams on literature (particularly on David Jones) and the essayists in Philip Blond’s (edited) Post-Secular Philosophy. Drysalter was made a Poetry Book Society Choice, and was shortlisted for the 2013 TS Eliot Prize and Forward Prize.