The Half Healed

(Paperback)

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The poems in Michael Symmons Roberts's fifth collection move in a world riven by violence and betrayal, between nations and individuals. As ever, this is a metaphysical poetry rooted in physical detail - but the bodies here are displaced, disguised, in need of rescue. A man in a fox suit prowls the woods afraid of meeting true foxes, while a vixen dressed as a man moves among the powerful at society soirees. God no longer 'walks in his garden in the cool of the day', but drives through a damaged city in the small hours. At the same time a couple celebrate armistice with an act of love in an anonymous hotel room. As the judges of the Whitbread Prize noted, Symmons Roberts' poetry 'inspires profound meditation on the nature of the soul, the body, the stars and the heart - and sparks revelation.' Roberts is a poet of unusual range and dexterity, fascinated by faith and science, by the physical and the transcendental, and with this new book he confirms his position as a truly original, and thrillingly gifted, lyric poet.

Reviews

I love Michael Symmons Roberts's poetry. He is a religious poet in a secular age. His work is about the connection between the things of the spirit and the things of the world. And his work is about transcendence -- Jeanette Winterson
An individual in contemporary verse, Michael Symmons Roberts writes a numinous poetry that listens 'for the footfalls of God in the Garden' -- Stephen Knight * Independent on Sunday *
A luminous collection based on the body that has seen [Roberts] likened to Donne -- Hephzibah Anderson * Daily Mail *
Exploring new outlooks and new worlds, Michael Symmons Roberts' religious poems... seem designed for an age of doubt and DNA -- Alan Brownjohn * Sunday Times *
An outstanding writer * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Michael Symmons Roberts was born in Preston, Lancashire in 1963. He has published six collections of poetry and received a number of accolades including the Forward Prize, the Costa Poetry Award and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. As a librettist, his work has been performed in concert halls and opera houses around the world. An award-winning broadcaster and dramatist, he has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.