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I have wasted ten years. You did not love me, ever.
You laughed at me, but that was long ago.
When I was far, you thought that I might be
A glittering comfort.

They, the two woodpigeons
Sit on one branch, grow dark in the afternoon
Or sun licks round a collar. They are preening
Easy as moulting, heavy, grey and slow.
A curl of white, a single feather, falls.

As boulders wait, these two are beautiful.
I do not envy stones. The ten years are
Heavy as the feather's drifting star.
'March pigeons'

In 1829, Alison Brackenbury's first collection for seven years, the poet travels to three continents: there are poems from her Asian, African and European journeys, and the different peopled landscapes that she visits are
evoked with her resonant lightness of touch, her granting rhythms and the
grace of a subtle, distinctive prosody.

The title poem was broadcast as part of the Mozart bicentenary celebrations on BBC Radio 3. Music has always featured in Brackenbury's poems; in this volume, which risks the dark of a minor key, it becomes a central motif. The poems travel in time as well as space. They also stay at home in a world of disorderly domesticity with cats and ponies.

Peter Forbes, editor of Poetry Review describes her as 'incontrovertibly the real thing, with an insistent, insidious music that once learnt becomes addictive'.

Alison Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire in 1953.�She is descended from generations of skilled farm workers, including a dynasty of prize-winning shepherds. She won a scholarship to Oxford and left with a First in English. She then married and moved to a small town�in Gloucestershire, where she combined writing with horse-keeping, ... read more

Praise for Alison Brackenbury 'In her powerful new collection Alison Brackenbury includes some eloquent farewells, beautifully and formally rendered in her clear and individual voice... Life, danger, risk, sorrow, accident and foreboding are all brought to a pertinent focus here. The poet examines many types of darkness and lifeâs difficulties in her illuminant language, and her unrivalled ability for unobtrusive but perfect form is ever-present.'
Penelope Shuttle, ARTEMISpoetry
'All Brackenbury's renowned qualities remain present in Thorpeness, such as her mastery of the lyric voice, her awareness of form, her ear for a line and her coupling of the natural and human world... Thorpeness invites the reader to reflect on how we face and express emotional truths in linguistic terms... a proper poet like Brackenbury never stops exploring and pushing their own boundaries.'

Matthew Stewart, Wild Court Poetry
'So many poems in this book begin with an item or a moment, flooding out to encompass a larger history. It's finely done, and Brackenbury proves again the enduring, treasure-like power of poetry, particularly by her expert pen.'

Mab Jones, Buzz Mag

'Thorpeness lays contemporary intonations across the patterns of folk song... Despite relishing past and present flavours, Brackenbury brings home the toughness of agricultural existence, rural poverty and life in service '

William Wootten, Literary Review

'Brackenbury's range as a poet continues to grow, just as her stanza forms become simpler and more pared-down. A growing engagement with inherited English culture allows her to question unspoken and given assumptions.'
M.C. Caseley, Agenda
'Brackenbury conjures a poetry that brings those frightening things into plain daylight, a poetry of the active life, of thrift and graft, of spirits that when pressed resort to sanity.'
John Bevis
'Brackenbury makes rhyming seem easy in work that is clever, controlled, eccentric and thoroughly British in both subject matter and tone.'
David Starkey, Santa Barbara Independent
'Brackenbury is a poet of strong feeling, deeply involved with her subject matter. That the work is cast with such craft and needs to do so little to draw attention to itself makes it all the more pleasurable.'
Jonathan Davidson, Poetry Review 'Alison Brackenbury's ninth collection of poems is a humble, often humorous, celebration of the everyday and the privileges of age.' - Harriet Barker, TLS 'It is her immediate response to the natural world happenings, the seasons, family and memories, and all life's incidentals that make her poems so easy to relate to.' - D. A. Prince, The North 'Filigreed with images of light and dark throughout, it's evocative, amusing and utterly compelling.'
Frances Lass, Radio Times 'Glorious'
Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph 'Enchants'
The Times 'Alison Brackenbury loves, lives, hymns and rhymes the natural world and its people like no other poet.'
Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales

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1829 Alison Brackenbury Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (64 pages) (Pub. Mar 1995) 9781857541229 Out of Stock Description Excerpt Author Reviews I have wasted ten years. You did not love me, ever. You laughed at me, but that was long ago. When I was far, you thought that I might be A glittering comfort. They, the two woodpigeons Sit on one branch, grow dark in the afternoon Or sun licks round a collar. They are preening Easy as moulting, heavy, grey and slow. A curl of white, a single feather, falls. As boulders wait, these two are beautiful. I do not envy stones. The ten years are Heavy as the feather's drifting star. 'March pigeons' In 1829, Alison Brackenbury's first collection for seven years, the poet travels to three continents: there are poems from her Asian, African and European journeys, and the different peopled landscapes that she visits are evoked with her resonant lightness of touch, her granting rhythms and the grace of a subtle, distinctive prosody. The title poem was broadcast as part of the Mozart bicentenary celebrations on BBC Radio 3. Music has always featured in Brackenbury's poems; in this volume, which risks the dark of a minor key, it becomes a central motif. The poems travel in time as well as space. They also stay at home in a world of disorderly domesticity with cats and ponies. Peter Forbes, editor of Poetry Review describes her as 'incontrovertibly the real thing, with an insistent, insidious music that once learnt becomes addictive'. Alison Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire in 1953.�She is descended from generations of skilled farm workers, including a dynasty of prize-winning shepherds. She won a scholarship to Oxford and left with a First in English. She then married and moved to a small town�in Gloucestershire, where she combined writing with horse-keeping, ... read more Praise for Alison Brackenbury 'In her powerful new collection Alison Brackenbury includes some eloquent farewells, beautifully and formally rendered in her clear and individual voice... Life, danger, risk, sorrow, accident and foreboding are all brought to a pertinent focus here. The poet examines many types of darkness and lifeâs difficulties in her illuminant language, and her unrivalled ability for unobtrusive but perfect form is ever-present.' Penelope Shuttle, ARTEMISpoetry 'All Brackenbury's renowned qualities remain present in Thorpeness, such as her mastery of the lyric voice, her awareness of form, her ear for a line and her coupling of the natural and human world... Thorpeness invites the reader to reflect on how we face and express emotional truths in linguistic terms... a proper poet like Brackenbury never stops exploring and pushing their own boundaries.' Matthew Stewart, Wild Court Poetry 'So many poems in this book begin with an item or a moment, flooding out to encompass a larger history. It's finely done, and Brackenbury proves again the enduring, treasure-like power of poetry, particularly by her expert pen.' Mab Jones, Buzz Mag 'Thorpeness lays contemporary intonations across the patterns of folk song... Despite relishing past and present flavours, Brackenbury brings home the toughness of agricultural existence, rural poverty and life in service ' William Wootten, Literary Review 'Brackenbury's range as a poet continues to grow, just as her stanza forms become simpler and more pared-down. A growing engagement with inherited English culture allows her to question unspoken and given assumptions.' M.C. Caseley, Agenda 'Brackenbury conjures a poetry that brings those frightening things into plain daylight, a poetry of the active life, of thrift and graft, of spirits that when pressed resort to sanity.' John Bevis 'Brackenbury makes rhyming seem easy in work that is clever, controlled, eccentric and thoroughly British in both subject matter and tone.' David Starkey, Santa Barbara Independent 'Brackenbury is a poet of strong feeling, deeply involved with her subject matter. That the work is cast with such craft and needs to do so little to draw attention to itself makes it all the more pleasurable.' Jonathan Davidson, Poetry Review 'Alison Brackenbury's ninth collection of poems is a humble, often humorous, celebration of the everyday and the privileges of age.' - Harriet Barker, TLS 'It is her immediate response to the natural world happenings, the seasons, family and memories, and all life's incidentals that make her poems so easy to relate to.' - D. A. Prince, The North 'Filigreed with images of light and dark throughout, it's evocative, amusing and utterly compelling.' Frances Lass, Radio Times 'Glorious' Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph 'Enchants' The Times 'Alison Brackenbury loves, lives, hymns and rhymes the natural world and its people like no other poet.' Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales	Share this... 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