Returns

John Welch's new book, his fourteenth since his first full length collection appeared in 1984, is writing that reflects on the strangeness of continuing to make poems 'Like a ball / thrown from an empty hand.' There is the recurring sense of 'an absence / embellished in the text' carrying on 'until It was / the page that silenced him'. Along with this there is the expression of an intermittent feeling of ambivalence regarding the 'business' of being a poet, the 'life of it'. Other work in the collection is declarative and of a more direct address.

Previous comments on John Welch's work:

"John Welch has been a significant figure since the early seventies, and deserves acclaim. His own aptly named Many Press has published numerous well-designed pamphlets... For my money, Out Walking is the finest volume Anvil have produced." -James Keery.

"No Flash effects, no random scramblings, no posturing, nothing sly or trivial. Writing as if your life depended on it." -Peter Hughes

"His poems resist easy closure... Readers of contemporary poetry who value the art as an expression of the processes of thought, perception and feeling will find much that is compelling." -James Sutherland-Smith