Alison Brackenbury
Encyclopedia
Life
She studied at OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. She now lives in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
.
Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Stand,
Works
- "In the gap"; "Affairs"; "Plucked from", The Chimera, October 2007
- "When"; "Mud"; "March ending"; "Passing", nthposition, march 08
- "6.25", The Guardian, 2 February 2008
Reviews
Singing in the Dark is Alison Brackenbury's seventh collection of poetry. Her work has always been characterised by a concern with stillness and natural detail, by a closeness to the ballad form, and, most of all, by a quiet lyricism and delight that is constantly being challenged, constantly under threat. The book's title is taken from the opening poem, "Edward Thomas's daughter", in which the final stanza sets up the book's challenge:
"The robin brushes me at dusk. /
Our good bones fail. We leave no mark. /
His voice, she writes, was clear and quiet. /
I hear him singing in the dark."
That last line captures a sense not only of fragility but also of defiance and this distinctive combination underpins the new collection.