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Shadowtrain books are pleased to announce the publication of Winter
Hands by Annie Clarkson.
Click here to see a review by Steven Waling.

Winter Hands crosses
boundaries between poetry and prose, inner and outer landscapes, intimacy and being alone. In a series of portraits, this
collection explores the vulnerabilities and distress of people who seem to be outside the worlds they survive in.
Their relationships are fractured
and ambivalent, their voices complex. Annie Clarkson’s rich, evocative images delve into the multi-layered emotions
of her characters. As readers, we are invited to identify with these individuals and the situations they create and find themselves
in. At the same time, we can delight in Clarkson’s lyrical and energetic use of language.
‘Annie Clarkson’s
versets – shapes where poetry and prose meet, declare a truce and mingle – generate so much heat and tenderness
in equal turns; they read like reports from a twilit, overlooked world, writ in vinegar on chip paper that will stay news.’
–Paul Farley
Clarkson composes her poetry
from tenderness, sexuality and courage, exploring taboo places in the human psyche. That she does so and does so fearlessly
is a testament to her compassion and understanding of the everyday fears and uncertainties we experience as humans.’
–Geraldine Green
Annie Clarkson is a poet
and fiction writer living in Manchester. Winter Hands is her first collection.
Published October, 2007.
Price £5.95 (incl. postage).
ISBN: 978-0-905127-13-2
To order, please email shadow2train@yahoo.com
Also available from Shadowtrain books:
Ex Catalogue by Rupert M Loydell.

Somewhere
between abstract and naturalistic, the prose poems in Ex Catalogue hint at a world
we can never quite grasp. Disarming yet knowing, these interlinked miniatures imply a guiding hand that has resolve if not
guile. The language used is carefully balanced and finely wrought. There is poise and limpidity throughout; a direct and informal
tone at work. It is a compelling mixture, rich with atmosphere and resonance, alive with possibility and expectation.
In the
second half of the book, Small Paintings offers fragments of experience and expectation.
There is a sense of some 'perfect way' being just out of reach and a feeling of both sadness and delight in the seeking of
it. Perhaps paradise lies in the search.
'What
is also striking about Loydell's poems is that they incorporate a wide range of influences and references drawn from music,
art, and literature, and do so without holding back the movement of the writing. The reader doesn't have to struggle to decipher
the meaning in the poems and that fact, mixed with the good humour often on show, makes them engaging…there's always a feeling that the poet's early days of wonder and excitement have been preserved.'
- Ambit
'Striking
comments on our disturbed early twenty-first century solipsism, and sometimes a scary echoing emptiness'
- Poetry
Review
£6.95 (incl. p&p) pbk
ISBN 0905127129
Published October, 2006
To order, please email
shadow2train@yahoo.com
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