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Dear Boy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
7 posts | 3 read | 2 to read
Dear Boy is the dramatic and inventive debut by Emily Berry. These characterful, intelligent and darkly witty poems explore lives lived strangely in unusual worlds, through a series of deft and seductive soliloquies. In a collection with a taste for ventriloquy and wickedness, and a flair for vocal cross-dressing, the balance of power is always shifting in an unexpected direction - an ingnue masquerades as a femme fatale, a doctor appears more disturbed than his patient, and parents seem more unruly than their children. Eccentric, intimate, arch, anxious, decadent and sometimes mournful, the book's confiding, conversational voices tell stories recognisable and refracted, carried along by the undercurrent on which the collection ebbs and rides: the anguish and energy brought about by a long-distance love affair, which propels and terrorises and ultimately unites the work. Dear Boy is an irresistible and enlivening collection by a new poet of startling and various gifts.
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blurb
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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Book #synchronicity: two recent reads that address long-distance relationships. ❤️👯‍♂️❤️

review
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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Pickpick

I heard poet Emily Berry read Some Fears on a podcast and wanted more, so I was delighted to find her 2013 debut collection with that poem in it. (Hear the poem here: https://youtu.be/6UOTDt4ATu0 )
The slim collection is a treat, with serious social analysis going on beneath clever dark comedy. Life as performance: who we are versus how we are perceived. Honest, beautiful and slightly surreal. #poetry

quote
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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Every time I think a new thought I can smell an old one burning.

#Poetry

quote
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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When the terrible thing happened someone said
Be strong
As if we might lay cables for bones, petrify our whole soft viscera

(The skin is a sort of protective organ and yet it is not safe from most
things, it is a jolly weak kind of coating to put on a vulnerable person.)

I repeat the phrase to someone in crisis
I do not know if they managed to achieve it

#poetry

quote
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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“Phew-ee! It‘s hot, and sad. I miss you. Love, Me.”
The picture on the front is of Michelangelo‘s David,
which Nurse Glory forbade me to see. Like all
mental health professionals, she‘s obsessed with
genitalia. “P.S.”, I add, “David‘s ball-sack looks like an
upside-down heart.” My innocence is really incredible.
#poetry
(Internet photo)

blurb
Lindy
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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Yesterday‘s library book haul might be a record for me. I had access to a car so there was no need to hold myself back. I‘m already nearly finished the delightful poetry collection at the top of the pile, which is also the tagged book for this post. See anything here you want to tell me about? #litsyloveslibraries

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I have no suggestions, but it looks great! 6y
Lindy @silentrequiem As it happens, I went looking for a different title by Ruth Goodman but my library didn‘t have it and I picked up this one instead. I think I heard of the author from a bibliography in 6y
See All 10 Comments
saresmoore I‘m looking forward to reading Terra Nullius sometime soon. Let me know if/when you pick it up! 6y
Lindy @saresmoore Will do. 😊 6y
Lauredhel Terra Nullius is excellent. Avoid reviews, many are spoilery. 6y
Lindy @Lauredhel Thanks! 6y
batsy Look forward to your thoughts on Red Virgin! It sounds amazing. 6y
Lindy @batsy I‘ve been impressed by other works by the Talbots, so I‘m looking forward to this one too. 6y
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review
beccaeve
Dear Boy | Emily Berry
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Pickpick

This book of poetry is beautiful!