Raw and beautiful and completely devoid of pretension, Ali Whitelock’s poems will speak to anyone who’s ever messed up, been confused, wished they’d done things differently; to anyone who’s had an affair and regretted it, who’s been loved completely but was too blind to see it.
Ali Whitelock writes a poetry of excoriating tenderness. These poems wake you. They are conversations with a better best friend than you ever had. One who lets you do all the talking and then picks up the cheque. – Mark Tredinnick, author, poet and Montreal International Poetry Prize Winner 2011
One of the wittiest, liveliest and most moving collections I’ve read in recent years. These poems are sassy, heart-wrenching and unforgettable. They evoke the best of Bukowski and Ginsberg while being the unique product of a contemporary female mind, a mind that is hilarious, provocative and – remarkable. Reading this collection made me feel like I was at a book festival, stand-up comedy night and therapy session all at once. Every poem is an event. – Kevin MacNeil, author of The Brilliant and Forever
The kind of poetry that I want to re-read even before I have finished reading it. – Edward Crossan, poetry editor, Birlinn Books
About the AuthorThey say those born overseas will always ache for the sky under which they were born. Ali Whitelock’s particular bit of sky hovers above Scotland and spends most of its time obscured by clouds almost permanently pregnant with rain, hail, occasionally snow. Her first book,
Poking Seaweed with a Stick and Running Away from the Smell , was published to critical acclaim in Australia and the UK. A few years later, after an abrupt life lesson, she stumbled upon Mary Oliver’s ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’ and took the decision to give up her spectacularly boring day job in order to write full-time.
The book you are holding is her first poetry collection. Her poems have appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals in Australia, the UK and the USA, which Ali very much enjoys telling anyone who’ll listen. She currently lives in Sydney.
Industry Reviews
Ali Whitelock writes a poetry of excoriating tenderness. These poems wake you. They are conversations with a better best friend than you ever had. One who lets you do all the
talking and then picks up the cheque.
– Mark Tredinnick, author, poet and Montreal International Poetry Prize Winner 2011
One of the wittiest, liveliest and most moving collections I’ve read in recent years. These poems are sassy, heart-wrenching and unforgettable. They evoke the best of Bukowski and Ginsberg while being the unique product of a contemporary female mind, a mind that is hilarious, provocative and – remarkable. Reading this collection made me feel like I was at a book festival, stand-up comedy night and therapy session all at once. Every poem is an event.
– Kevin MacNeil, author of The Brilliant & Forever
The kind of poetry that I want to re-read even before I have finished reading it.
– Edward Crossan, poetry editor, Birlinn Books
