SHORTLISTED FOR THE T. S. ELIOT PRIZE
‘Fresh, urgent, alive... genius.’ Patience Agbabi
This subtle and provocative debut collection moves skillfully and purposefully into private, hidden spaces - a closed warehouse, the darkness of a farm, a murky riverbed, a late-night bar - to show, without omitting anything and with cinematic detail, what we might choose not to see. Vision is both a gift and a curse, of course: given or taken away in poems by windows and curtains, lenses and hoods, and yet here - following the tradition of Oswald and Heaney - every image is fresh through a cold, objective lens.
Each poem seeks to inhabit those seemingly small but defining moments that have monumental, sometimes mortal, consequences. For Pajak, time is fluid: a blink can be 'slow as an eclipse', our lives are fleeting, our deaths often persistent and rarely calm or painless.
Vivid and physical, steadily examining violence, sexual encounters, childhood and aging (the 'slow pink eyelids of a mortal grandmother, those quick breaths with the teaspoon'), cars and cities, and Nature - full of wonder and menace - Slide always poses significant questions: illuminating brutality, vulnerability, and tenderness, the responsibility of those who watch - whether they are spectators, viewers, or readers. This is a tension-filled, beautifully observed, and immersive debut collection.
Pages: 80, Dimensions: 13.2x13.2cm
