About the Book
Dust to dust, that much we know. But it's what happens in between that counts. In Christopher James' mercurial second collection, Seamus Heaney breaks down in a lane; John Lennon haunts the Great Wall of China while an archaeologist is exhumed sometime in the distant future. This is where the living and the dead intermingle like passengers waiting nervously for a flight. Reaching from the Humber to the Thames; Cromer to Kathmandu, it's a dizzying and unpredictable world tour that veers in and out of reality like a plane passing through a cloud. In the shadow of environmental disaster and the possibility of dragons, there are more mundane dramas to face too: house moves, family secrets, marriage proposals that do not go to plan, and children woken in the night by rain. 'Farewell to the Earth' begins and ends with ashes, but in between a Technicolor epic unfolds, throwing its glinting light on everyday life.
Table of Contents:
Farewell to the Earth / 9, The Retired Eunuch / 10, The Light Age / 11, Detective Fiction / 12, 55 Mill Hill Road / 14, King Midas in the Golden Valley / 15, John Lennon on the Great Wall of China / 16, Backpacking Across Pangea / 17, The Small Architect / 19, The Novices / 20, Running with the Polish Airman / 21, Roadtrip / 22, Solo / 24, The Lakeland Poets Highjump Contest / 25, The Elizabethan Stag / 26, Noah / 27, How I Learnt the Finger Picking Style / 28, 1 Graham Street / 30, Triathlon / 31, Saturday / 32, The Flood / 34, The Windmill Conversion Neighbourhood Watch / 36, The Queen's Master of the Swans / 38, Seamus Heaney's BlackBerry / 39, Wading the Humber / 40, The Skimmer King of the Antrim Coast / 42, Captain Sydney Smith (1874-1911) / 43, The Cat on the Dashboard / 44, The Chitrakar's Allotment / 45, Second Honeymoon / 47, The Royal Yacht / 48, Ring / 49, Returning / 50, Another Fine Mess / 51, Halos / 52, Exposure / 54, Out of the Bag / 55, Cortege / 56, The Tower / 57, You Do Not Need Your Wristwatch, There is a Clock on the Wall / 58, The Divebombers / 60, Amends / 62, Unheard Music / 63, Fresher / 64, Firewood / 65, Exile Blues / 66, A Star Shell / 67, The Girl in the Piet Mondrian Dress / 68, The Benevolent Plague / 69, Disinterring the Archaeologist / 70, Waiting for the Stick Man / 71, The Mist / 72, The Wonder Smiths / 73, Ashes / 75
About the Author :
Christopher James won the National Poetry Competition for his poem 'Farewell to the Earth'. He also took the Bridport Prize in 2002 and the Ledbury Poetry Prize in both 2003 and 2006. His previous collection The Invention of Butterfly was listed by The Independent as one of its top ten poetry books and he is described by Poetry Society's Judith Palmer as 'the UK's brightest newcomer'. Christopher is also the recipient of an Eric Gregory award from the Society of Authors. His poems have appeared in The Rialto, Smiths Knoll, London Magazine, Iota, Magma, The Spectator, and many other periodicals. He has read at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, the Ledbury Poetry Festival and twice at the Aldeburgh Festival, hosted poetry workshops and has been commissioned by the Tate. Christopher was born in Scotland in 1975 and educated at Newcastle and UEA, where he graduated with an MA in Creative Writing. He now lives in Suffolk with his wife, guitar and three young children.
