Otherwise Unchanged

The poems in Owen Lowery's first collection speak in a range of voices, offer glimpses into many lives and many worlds. At the same time, we hear in all of them Lowery's own voice. Incorporating elements from English, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese and Italian poetic traditions, he develops form deftly, giving his work a beautiful, risky movement and musicality. Many of his poems pay tribute to poets writing in the face of war: he enters the worlds of Paul Celan, Keith Douglas, Alun Lewis, Edward Thomas, and - in a powerful sequence based on If This Is a Man - Primo Levi. Other poems are more directly personal, the poet's confessions both wry and tender: 'Your trademark switching the light on / from the bottom of the stairs / wakes the open secret of his / thank you prayer.' The poet was a British Judo champion but suffered a spinal injury in 1987, as a result of which he is now a ventilator-dependent C2-level tetraplegic. With Otherwise Unchanged, Owen Lowery embarks on a momentous and moving journey.

Table of Contents:
I Now I'm thinking about it Possible first impressions Meanwhile, back at the Chop House Viewing appointment at the Old Lodge You with Larkin on Man walking Morning call Salvation Army clothes bin A spring morning's photographs Jayne's barn owl Picturing you as a girl Small tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae Time by Clifton Marina Jayne's holiday aubade From Lochaline to Isle of Mull Stalking one of Sunart's otters A buzzard from Rose Cottage Incidental composition Half-lit on a return journey Bill Shankly on a T-shirt Andy Carroll's first Liverpool goals Fabrice Muamba returns Early morning on the ward In conversation with Chiron A frieze depicting four centaurs Jospice visiting day Hospital slide-show IVP - intravenous pyelogram II Quinming at Noyelles-sur-Mer Wilfred Owen by the canal at Ors Unmarked war dead at Fromelles Frost and Edward Thomas walking For Helen Thomas Outskirts of Ypres, 1920 A day's work with Kitty Blake, 1937 Jasmine tea at a pavement cafe Keith Douglas painting dancers Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, 1943 On deck with the secret sleeper Random encounters, Cwmaman Canto waiting for soup Remember Steinlauf Lilith of Camp Buna, Auschwitz, 1944 Shulamith at last by the River Seine Exit Leon Treblinka's trees Die Morder sind unter uns - 1946 Mural of Annette McGavigan Unveiling of the Omagh memorial Domodedovo airport, 24 - 1 - 2011 In a market town they're discussing him Poster at a bus shelter - Brynn III Boats at a Tutankhamun exhibition The boxer of Quirinal Cafe table Sapphic Seferis people-watching in a Cairo bar Cavafy returns to Liverpool Salvator Mundi Browsing at Jon Wright's bookshop Marian Halcombe Elgar's Cello Concerto Lowry's loneliest house Austin's blackbird Stephen Hero catches a glimpse of someone Albert Richards, war artist, 1919 - 1945 Dylan Thomas by Augustus John A visit from the ogre Looking at a recent collection of Larkin's letters Woman who looks like Sophia Loren Ward round An apparition of Kenny Dalglish Paula Rego's Gepetto Washing Pinocchio Paula Rego's Nativity Christmas card Paula Rego's Dybbuk Your picture much appreciated

About the Author :
Owen Lowery was born in 1968. Formerly a British Judo champion, he suffered a spinal injury while competing and became a ventilator-dependent tetraplegic. He had an MA in Creative Writing from Bolton University, where he also completed his PhD in the extrospective poetry of Keith Douglas. His poetry appeared in Stand, PN Review, the Guardian and on the BBC. Owen was also an accomplished performer of his poetry and featured regularly at a wide range of major festivals and venues. His poems were listed in the Bridport Prize, the Welsh Open Poetry Competition, the Virginia Warbey Prize, and the International Sonnet Competition. He passed away in May 2021.