Say Something Back
Denise Riley
2016 Nominee
Forward Prize for Poetry Best Collection
2017 Nominee
T. S. Eliot Prize
2017 Nominee
Costa Poetry Award
2017 Nominee
Griffin International Poetry Prize
2017 Winner
Roehampton Poetry Prize
19 May 2016
978144727037996 pages
Synopsis
Say Something Back will allow readers to see just why the name of Denise Riley has been held in such high regard by her fellow poets for so long. The book reproduces A Part Song, a profoundly moving document of grieving and loss, and one of the most widely admired long poems of recent years. Elsewhere these poems become a space for contemplation of the natural world and of physical law, and for the deep consideration of what it is to invoke those who are absent. But finally, they extend our sense of what the act of human speech can mean - and especially what is drawn forth from us when we address our dead. Lyric, intimate, acidly witty, unflinchingly brave, Say Something Back is a deeply moving book by one of our finest poets, and one destined to introduce Riley's name to a wide new readership.
It sometimes seems that contemporary poetry divides into two sorts - those poems that did not need to be written and those written out of necessity. Denise Riley belongs to the second category - her writing is perfectly weighted, justifies its existence. It is impossible not to want to "say something back" to each of her poems in recognition of their outstanding quality. Her voice is strong and beautiful - an imperative in itself . . . remarkableGuardian
The best thing I've read in agesMax Porter, author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Denise Riley’s Say Something Back shows how grief keeps a different clock and is a churning yet exhilarating (because the poems are so good) exploration of loss. Her poetry gets to the heartJackie Kay, Guardian
