Ten Poems on the Telephone

Published on Monday 26 June 2017

We’re delighted with this latest title: an intriguing and moving anthology that captures the many ways in which the telephone can intervene in our lives – from the wrong number that brings us ear-to-ear with a stranger to the anguished message to a distant lover who hasn’t been in touch.

These days we can be on the phone almost anywhere. As we hurry from A to B we’re often using the time to catch up with an old friend or a family member. On the hoof, perhaps, but phone calls are no less important for that.

There’s a poem in which the telephone itself becomes an almost sinister presence and another where a silent call in the middle of the night presages a mysterious encounter and leaves only unanswered questions. In Michael Symmons Roberts’ moving sequence written to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a last answerphone message is something to play and replay – words to hold on to for ever.

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