A TELEGRAPH AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN POLLARD
FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE 'Impressive . . . tender unflinching' Guardian'This is
poetry in the grand tradition of annihiliation by desire. It's what the young are always
learning and the old if they are wise never forget' Anne Boyer author of The
Undying'Brilliant . . . heralds the arrival of a frank and vital poetic voice' Sharlene Teo
author of Ponti'Frank and alert . . . an important voice in British poetry' Eley Williams
author of The Liar's Dictionary'Direct and heart-breaking' Alex Dimitrov author of Love and
Other Poems'A rare thing . . . razor-sharp' Julia Copus author of This Rare Spirit: A Life of
Charlotte MewIn Rotten Days in Late Summer Ralf Webb turns poetry to an examination of the
textures of class youth adulthood and death in the working communities of the West Country
from mobile home parks boyish factory workers and saleswomen kept on the road for days at a
time to the yearnings of young love and the complexities of masculinity. Alongside individual
poems three sequences predominate: a series of 'Love Stories' charting a course through the
dreams lies and salt-baked limbs of multiple relationships 'Diagnostics' which tells the
story of the death from cancer of the poet's father and 'Treetops' a virtuosic long poem
weaving together grief and mental health struggles in an attempt to come to terms with the
overwhelming data of a life. The world of these poems is close dangerous lustrous and
difficult: a world in which whole existences are lived in the spin of almost-inescapable fates.
In searching for the light within it this prodigious debut collection announces the arrival of
a major new voice in British poetry.
