Manchester in the Rain (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798456657213)

With works inspired by locations across Britain and Ireland, this is the first edition of collected poems published by the award-winning short-story writer. Longer works like "Can you hear me, dad?", which features a son reflecting on his father's life whilst sitting at his bedside, are contrasted with shorter poems about more everyday subjects: schoolyard jokes and airport delays. What unifies them all is the author's preoccupation with time and his constant questioning as to the existence of true reality. We only see the world through our own eyes, comprehending and interpreting what we see based on a number of very personal factors: past experiences, upbringing, and education. Is there such a thing as an objective reality, and if so, what is it? One character dreams of wining a lottery rollover and how it will transform his life, a vicar questions whether his faith is really that different from a parishioner who believes the world is a computer-simulated reality, a composer returns home to the green hills of his Irish ancestral home and ponders how his ancestors saw that same landscape. These are poems written by a self-confessed eccentric whose life reflects the Mahlerian simultaneous contrasts of joy and despair, an author who lives in a house bedecked with Christmas decorations all year round but where the tinsel is wrapped around his mothers ashes on the mantlepiece. What comes through most in these poems is a sense of loss, an ultimately impossible quest to try and rediscover that perfect unquestioned reality of childhood that experience and time has removed. There are, however, signs of hope: a rugby team may win and avoid relegation, a traumatized soldier may yet regain his sanity. These poems offer a unique insight into the mind of one of Britain's most thought-provoking writers.

Author: Frederick Everest
ISBN-13: 9798456657213
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 08/14/2021
Pages: 60
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.21lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.12d