Blood Feather

'He writes with Proustian elan and Nabokovian delight' John Banville

By: Patrick McGuinness

Write A Review

Paperback | 4 May 2023

At a Glance

Paperback
80 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
1.2 x 13.1 x 19.6

Paperback

$34.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $8.69 with

or

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

In this intimate, confiding poetry collection, Patrick McGuinness shows how identity is layered, permeable, always in motion - how we are always actor and audience to ourselves

In this intimate, confiding poetry collection, McGuinness shows how identity is layered, permeable, always in motion - how we are always actor and audience to ourselves

'This is McGuinness's best collection by far, and stands out from the crowd'
SUNDAY TIMES

In Blood Feather, a book of doubling and displacement, we see time in a new way- the past, personal and collective, lingering as an ever-present ghost - while lost beyond recall.

The first section, 'Squeeze the Day' - a series of deeply moving poems about the author's mother, displaced between languages - investigates her illness and death; how being bilingual is like having a double, a second self; how each self haunts the other. 'The Noises Things Make When They Leave' elegises today's post-industrial landscapes, their people and professions- sidelined by literature, bypassed by globalisation. The final sequence, 'After the Flood', links the book's themes, seeking a way of seeing things for the first time and the last time simultaneously. Exploring the gaps between languages and between our selves in language, Patrick McGuinness dreams of a new tense in which the world's losses are redeemed-

It's the anniversary of my mother's death,
and it's my mother's birthday -
the day she short-circuited the tenses,
made the current flow both ways.

A clear-sighted, intimate new poetry collection from the prizewinning author of Other People's Countries and Throw me to the Wolves.

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

More in Poetry

The Complete Poems

The most complete edition of Dylan Thomas's poems available

Paperback

RRP $17.99

$16.75

20%
OFF

Whisper Songs

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$10.00

60%
OFF

Blood Feather

'He writes with Proustian elan and Nabokovian delight' John Banville

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Poetry

The Complete Poems

The most complete edition of Dylan Thomas's poems available

Joy Chose You: Words for Hope, Comfort and Light

The instant Sunday Times bestseller & perfect gift

Best of Australian Poems 2025

Best of Australian Poems

The Rot

How Women Became Poets

A Gender History of Greek Literature

Japanese Haiku for Cat Lovers

Climate

poems to celebrate change

You Hung the Moon

A Love Letter Between Mother and Child

Beautiful Changelings

A Poetry Handbook

A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry

The Iliad

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection

The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe - Omnibus Edition

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection

Complete Poems Of Banjo Paterson

The Spiritual Poems of Rumi

Translated by Nader Khalili

The Complete Poems of John Keats

Wordsworth Poetry Library

The Prophet

Penguin Classics Hardcover

Heroes

The myths of the Ancient Greek heroes retold

Dog Songs

Poems

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

Poems

Harmony

poems to find peace

Australia's Beating Heart

An Illustrated Anthology of Classic Bush Poetry

Love is Strong as Death

Poems chosen by Paul Kelly

Whisper Songs

This product is categorised by