Anne Gill tells the story of Raft from the edge of a precipice. Standing on the stormy cliff of a heart, she picks out the rocks with perfect vision, with words and their absence, with humour and power. Through the eyes of Penguin 2, she shows us the blindspots of recovery. You will hold your breath as you read. This book is a map and a prescription for healing, essential reading for anyone tunneling their way out of pain.
“We are in need of new ways of raft-making—rafts through the waves and currents of inherited trauma, local and global violence, storms of the self. Something that can deliver a reader to small, if temporary, solaces beyond external harms. In Raft, Gill has crafted poems that can ride the storm. She leaps through surreal scenes that pivot the navigations of the self, net the pain and allow us to laugh between the gulps of wind knocked out of us. Poems of tumbling yet sharp diverting thoughts, there is a wilderness to the writing that marks Gill as both a poet of instinctive and attentive craft.” Antosh Wojcik
“You know when you read poetry and on the first reading you don’t quite understand what you’ve just read, but something is unlocked in your subconscious? Like a good trip. First you smile. Then you cry. You sit up straight. You feel held. The world is still. This collection tackles trauma without reservation, without apology, with care and sensitivity, with authenticity and courage. A striking new collection with timely relevance.” Nafeesa Hamid