Cowboy

(Paperback, Main)

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The poems in Cowboy are knowing, millennial, internet-sick, funny, with deep undercurrents: of embodied and disembodied spiritualities; of the knowledge of animals; of familial mythologies; of grief and longing; of autism and navigating diagnoses; of early and enduring disappointment; of the wildness underneath the smooth glass-and-chrome surfaces of contemporary life.

The echo of a question permeates the collection - where does a person grow up - moving restlessly between rural Wales, London and the American South; between the esoteric spaces of the internet; between the artlessness of childhood and adolescence transfigured inexplicably into a disquieting adulthood, with its attendant weirdness of rent-paying, cohabiting, the churn of mindless work and alienation.

The generous abundance of Cowboy's references - memes, early noughties television shows, pop songs, cities and their suburbs, video games - bring anxiety and pressure, joy and glory to this singularly impressive debut.

Reviews

'A truly dazzling debut, full of utterly inventive and original work ... Walker's voice is at once razor sharp and enigmatic, a sophisticated blend of control and swagger that gives the collection an assurance beyond its years.' - Jane Yeh

'A phenomenal debut. Walker's voice speaks so sharply not just to this generation but also to generations past and to whatever will follow.' - Gboyega Odubanjo

'Cowboy is breathtaking in its depth, rootedness and conjurings ... Kandace Siobhan Walker's exquisite touch both harnesses and transforms tradition. Certainly one of the best poets of her generation.' - Lillian Allen, Poet Laureate of Toronto

'Electrifying, shocking even .. attuned precisely to the slippery present moment, reminding us that a poem might awaken something important or urgent within.' - Richard Scott

Author Bio

Kandace Siobhan Walker is a writer and artist of Canadian, Jamaican, Saltwater-Geechee and Welsh heritage. She is an editor at bath magg. In 2021, she was an Eric Gregory Award recipient and the winner of The White Review Poet's Prize. A poetry pamphlet, Kaleido, was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022. Cowboy is her first book. She lives in London.