Countdown - Carole Satyamurti

The central theme of Carole Satyamurti's new collection is the shifting relationship between loss and gain. It explores the varied ways in which that relationship is played out in day-to-day experience. The poems range from personal to the political, the psychological to the scientific, many addressing the human cost of war and terror, most notably in 'Memorial', written after a visit to Oradour-sur-Glane, the still desolate French village where six hundred innocent people were massacred in 1944. A sense of the transience and fragility of life runs through all the poems - whether it is life cut short prematurely, or the natural process of ageing. And under that is the profound mystery of time itself - how are we to conceive of it? How can we best live within its inexorable constraints? And how can we engage with it in language? The poems address these questions with both seriousness and humour, as well as bringing to bear a sharp eye for detail.