{"title":"Will Kemp","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"surviving-larkin-book-will-kemp-9781915606082","title":"Surviving Larkin","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49744621273361,"sku":"NGR9781915606082","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50253562708241,"sku":"GOR013659160","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53353020817681,"sku":"GOR014869800","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/191560608X.jpg?v=1750726845"},{"product_id":"lowland-book-will-kemp-9781907090943","title":"Lowland","description":"Lowland is a moving collection in three parts that begins and ends in Holland, in low land that is not only visually arresting, but a powerful metaphor for the journey from childhood and first love to brokenness and the long march back to life; changed and wistful, but never sentimental. The language is as pared down and stark as the landscape; emotion bristles between the lines, but remains controlled and precise, and between the moments of darkness, light and humour seep in. A consummate performer of his work as well as a gifted writer, Kemp keeps his tone varied so we feel for the awkward boy who imagines himself as James Bond, able to do so much 'Or just have a quip ready for Gary Murray \/ as he pasted my face into the playground wall.' (Bond) And on a family holiday we keep score of with his sister of who falls in the canal and hear 'that quiet plop \/ as our parents bickered \/ about some lock' (Dutch River) and finally returning changed. Linguistically adept and full of emotional range, there is a subtle narrative arc in Lowland so that a book of Roman and Greek myths given to the young poet shows the way 'those kings \/ packed their daughters' suitors off \/ to slaughter', foreshadowing events to come. And in the chilling, lyrically tight poem 'Diary of a Young Girl' with an epigraph from Anne Frank it is not only the historical girl of whom it's true that 'The inescapable truth is that \/ we know the end before the start.' As love blossoms, loss and breakdown loom: 'Just the dark of a storm, this swarm of black wings \/ over the standing corn; \/ and that dirt track though \/ its centre, leading nowhere.' (Ravens over cornfields). Finally there is reprise: lyrical, wistful, mature, a sense of life's canvas being 'both scattered \/ and as one' \/\/ ...'with its cries \/from long ago'. A powerful, poignant and deeply satisfying collection. -- Publisher: Cinnamon Press","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50415584870673,"sku":"GOR006968770","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1907090940.jpg?v=1751442329"},{"product_id":"painters-who-studied-clouds-book-will-kemp-9781910836347","title":"The Painters Who Studied Clouds","description":"Brimming with wit, moments of acute observation and imagination, and written in a wry, self-deprecating Billy Collins-esque style, Will Kemp's third collection is replete with refreshing images for the things that enrich life, from clouds to sport, art to music. The Painters Who Studied Clouds is upbeat and positive, but never glib, expanding Kemp's range and tone in this outstanding collection.  As the evocative title, The Painters Who Studied Clouds, suggests, Will Kemp's focus in his third full-length collection includes art and the natural world, as well as music, literature, film and sport, all of which have manifestly offered him intense joy and succour. He succeeds in producing poetry that is at once wistful and amusing, and the humour is always pitch-perfect, never forced or heavy-handed. I particularly relish his dalliance with the surreal in such poems as 'Shopping with Elvis' and 'Playing Football with Keats'. This is a collection by which readers cannot fail to be both moved and uplifted. -- Susan Richardson","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50697704997137,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50697707487505,"sku":"NGR9781910836347","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51826389877009,"sku":"GOR008483132","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53158205456657,"sku":"GOR014788607","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1910836346.jpg?v=1750867185"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-will-kemp.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}