Carcanet Press - Lucky Day

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Author
Contents
Awards
Reviews

Lucky Day begins with natural landscapes through which love and lyric flicker and flare. The sparrows, pigeons and magpies of the urban periphery lighten the atmosphere, edging the collection towards the city in the funny elegy 'Bird List'. The sequence that follows, 'Hand Held', is personal and vulnerable, a finally celebratory exploration of his experience as the father of a child with severe learning difficulties. The collection concludes with poems of love and memory, affirming in the end the luck of survival.

Table of Contents

SCAPE

'All the days'

'They were your letters yesterday'

Dual sculls

'Supper will keep'

'the broad bellies'

Pylons

the frame

'Rare calm on the rattled moor'

Three oasthouses

A world without earth

Net results

Dogger

Motorcruisers

Better trees

the white horse

The organised forest

For December

A SPELTHORNE BIRD LIST

Hedge Sparrows

Coot

Mandarin Duck

Great Crested Grebe

Cormorants

Mallards

Heron

Swans

Swan

Cuckoo

Pigeons

Song Thrush

Ring Necked Parakeet

Carrion Crow

Jay

Domestic geese

Moorhen

Magpie

Kingfisher

Lick and stick

OFFICES

Cleaners

Save? / Send? / Delete?

As a

MARKS & SPARKS

Fishbones of aerials

Kids

Wasps

Separate again

Wrong again

Margin

Holiday romance

Cadets

Careless

Helpline

Twigs

Tensioned frame

Less said

Shoosh

I wish

Passenger side

'Skirt'

Behind you

Marks and Sparks

As, as

Then, again

Deli

Fitted sheet

Engagement / Strike

On, off, over

I bet

Odi et amo

Think for thinking

Art lover

A new establishment

Scare

Lucky day

Call

As if

HAND HELD

A dash

Lifer

Than we are

Anne and the Royal

Flightpaths

Taps

Victory in Europe

'Speech absent'

Dopey has Angelman's Syndrome

Thanks

Nothing promised

So the palm faces

See, touch on the baby gym

Gallery / zoo

Receipt

Little bear

The clutter back

Abacus

The grip

Only child

Logger's Leap

R for Robert

blue, quilted

Eureka

Fob

The taps just flow hot and cold

For Katie's toes

The world is busy, Katie

The late show

Air miles

That song

Wake up and play

Sleeper

The price-dream ratio

Surely the certainties

Fast

'I have two daughters'

The twins

A bow-tie pattern

Please

Hand held

A news

The truants will be suspended

An authority

Deportment / Deportation

Slow films

Softened, bright

Big Bang research

ALL LIGHT

All light

In your generous hours

Farewell remembering a goodbye

Richard Price is Head of Contemporary British Collections at the British Library and a tutor at the Poetry School, London. He has published over a dozen books of poetry since his debut in 1993, including Lucky Day (2005), which was a Guardian Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Whitbread ... read more

Awards won by Richard Price Short-listed, 2017 Saltire Society Poetry Book of the Year Award (Moon for Sale) Winner, 2013 Creative Scotland SMIT Poetry Book of the Year
(Small World) Short-listed, 2010 Scottish Arts Council Poetry Book of the Year Award
(Rays) Short-listed, 2008 Scottish Arts Council Poetry Book of the Year Award
(Greenfields) Short-listed, 2005 Jerwood/Aldeburgh First Collection Prize
(Lucky Day) Short-listed, 2005 Whitbread Poetry Book of the Year
(Lucky Day) Short-listed, 2005 Forward Felix Dennis First Collection Prize
(Lucky Day) Runner-up, 1997 Paul Hamlyn Poetry Award, for pamphlet Hand Held Winner, 1988 Winner, STV Creative Writing Prize, Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde Winner, 1988 Keith Wright Memorial Prize for Poetry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Winner, 1987 Keith Wright Memorial Prize for Poetry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

'Richard Price retains an individual voice in which intense feelings of love, or dislocation, are packed into often short, complex lyrics. There is a tension in reading his poems which is created by his care for words, by the integrity of his distillation.'
Carol Ann Duffy Praise for Richard Price 'It's an extraordinary book... Price has often been characterised by his delicacy and precision, his flexible sensuality of tone and gentleness, a domestic familiarity and a sense of respect that is neither pious nor self-regarding, and never sentimental. But here is a new departure, as if the arrival of a child later in the poet's life, and the imposing, impending threats of violence in the world around us, heighten both the claims of the human and the principles of virtue that obtain within the poetry itself.'
Alan Riach, The National

'The book is refreshingly without judgment of the Inuit's customs and mores.'

Jacqueline Schaalje, Mayday Magazine

'The Owner of the Sea brings Arctic cultural history to new audiences. In Price's skilful rendering, these retellings of Inuit myths leave the reader wanting to learn more about the rich heritage of our neighbours in the north.'

Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir, The Bottle Imp

'[a] wonderful and unexpectedly timely book.'

David James, Anchorage Daily News

'There is nothing missing. The stories inhabit a world compounded of the continuing subsistence hunting economy and centuries of shamanistic magic in which animals, especially hunted animals, will speak to you, seduce you, trick you, help you, murder you... as indeed the humans do to each other. They are full of sexual and scatological obscenities, acts of cruelty, dishonour and betrayal not to mention cannibalism, and it's all there; nothing is toned down. One can freely feel that the Inuit imaginative sphere is faithfully and fearlessly represented.'

Peter Riley, The Fortnightly Review

'Each tale is full of bawdy, fun and cruelty in the best of the old storytelling tradition. Price walks a tightrope between outright filth and respectable poetic style with an effortlessness that is majestic to behold...These are stories that should be more well-known, and Price's translation ought to become the standard version in English. A timeless collection.'

Joe Darlington, Manchester Review of Books

'True myths are contradictory, ambiguous, always shape-shifting as much as the characters. Price captures this with precision... Price's poetry has always had a lapidary quality balanced with a lilting, almost nursery rhyme rhythm. It works exceptionally well in this collection.'

Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman

'He is a poet with a huge range of styles, for whom no subject matter is outlawed... He clusters similar poems so they sing to each other - a group of nature poems, a medley of songs - and the opening, penultimate and final poems are gracious, gentle and pleasing. We're never in any doubt that we're in the company of an unusual intelligence, but he is clever in a generous way.'
Mandy Haggith, Gutter Magazine
'Poets have to be linguistic virtuosi, but I prefer them to be brilliant quietly. Richard Price's poetry is inventive, sometimes dazzling, but never merely showy. I first came to Price's poetry with the publication of Lucky Day (2005) and every subsequent book has delivered fresh weather. Moon for Sale appeared in January 2017, and I'm still rereading it and finding new pleasures.'
Carol Rumens, Best Poetry Books of 2017, The Guardian
'A wryly playful poet...'
The TLS
'There are also beautiful, intimate love poems which served to remind me that even in sad and dangerous times, human sweetness can prevail. There are also many moments of delicious humour.'
Josephine Corcoran, The North, Issue 58 (Summer 2017)

'Reading the poems you become aware you are in the presence of a mind working much more quickly and sharply than your own.'
The Poetry School 'Price's humane intelligence manifests itself in deceptively simple and subtly musical forms of address. Readers who allow themselves the pleasure will not be disappointed.'
Robert Potts, The Guardian
'...when you come to such energy combined with impressive inventiveness and lyricism, it is rather hard to pass on by [...] the humour, the wittiness [are] there throughout, as is a boldness of utterance [...] Here, however sorrowful the story, I hope other readers too will feel the energy of language in the making.'
Caroline Clark, Eyewear 'A superb first line, 'No colours can mean more than Lego's' ('Delicate greenery'), leads on to an amazing arc of narrative and imagery and richness. There's playground slang and prejudice. And suddenly a pared-down, lyric directnessâ¦'
Tony Williams, Magma 'Richard Price retains an individual voice in which intense feelings of love, or dislocation, are packed into often short, complex lyrics. There is a tension in reading his poems which is created by his care for words, by the integrity of his distillation.'
Carol Ann Duffy

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Lucky Day Richard Price Categories: 21st Century, First Collections Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (128 pages) (Pub. Feb 2005) 9781857547610 Out of Stock Description Author Contents Awards Reviews Lucky Day begins with natural landscapes through which love and lyric flicker and flare. The sparrows, pigeons and magpies of the urban periphery lighten the atmosphere, edging the collection towards the city in the funny elegy 'Bird List'. The sequence that follows, 'Hand Held', is personal and vulnerable, a finally celebratory exploration of his experience as the father of a child with severe learning difficulties. The collection concludes with poems of love and memory, affirming in the end the luck of survival. Table of Contents SCAPE 'All the days' 'They were your letters yesterday' Dual sculls 'Supper will keep' 'the broad bellies' Pylons the frame 'Rare calm on the rattled moor' Three oasthouses A world without earth Net results Dogger Motorcruisers Better trees the white horse The organised forest For December A SPELTHORNE BIRD LIST Hedge Sparrows Coot Mandarin Duck Great Crested Grebe Cormorants Mallards Heron Swans Swan Cuckoo Pigeons Song Thrush Ring Necked Parakeet Carrion Crow Jay Domestic geese Moorhen Magpie Kingfisher Lick and stick OFFICES Cleaners Save? / Send? / Delete? As a MARKS & SPARKS Fishbones of aerials Kids Wasps Separate again Wrong again Margin Holiday romance Cadets Careless Helpline Twigs Tensioned frame Less said Shoosh I wish Passenger side 'Skirt' Behind you Marks and Sparks As, as Then, again Deli Fitted sheet Engagement / Strike On, off, over I bet Odi et amo Think for thinking Art lover A new establishment Scare Lucky day Call As if HAND HELD A dash Lifer Than we are Anne and the Royal Flightpaths Taps Victory in Europe 'Speech absent' Dopey has Angelman's Syndrome Thanks Nothing promised So the palm faces See, touch on the baby gym Gallery / zoo Receipt Little bear The clutter back Abacus The grip Only child Logger's Leap R for Robert blue, quilted Eureka Fob The taps just flow hot and cold For Katie's toes The world is busy, Katie The late show Air miles That song Wake up and play Sleeper The price-dream ratio Surely the certainties Fast 'I have two daughters' The twins A bow-tie pattern Please Hand held A news The truants will be suspended An authority Deportment / Deportation Slow films Softened, bright Big Bang research ALL LIGHT All light In your generous hours Farewell remembering a goodbye Richard Price is Head of Contemporary British Collections at the British Library and a tutor at the Poetry School, London. He has published over a dozen books of poetry since his debut in 1993, including Lucky Day (2005), which was a Guardian Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Whitbread ... read more Awards won by Richard Price Short-listed, 2017 Saltire Society Poetry Book of the Year Award (Moon for Sale) Winner, 2013 Creative Scotland SMIT Poetry Book of the Year (Small World) Short-listed, 2010 Scottish Arts Council Poetry Book of the Year Award (Rays) Short-listed, 2008 Scottish Arts Council Poetry Book of the Year Award (Greenfields) Short-listed, 2005 Jerwood/Aldeburgh First Collection Prize (Lucky Day) Short-listed, 2005 Whitbread Poetry Book of the Year (Lucky Day) Short-listed, 2005 Forward Felix Dennis First Collection Prize (Lucky Day) Runner-up, 1997 Paul Hamlyn Poetry Award, for pamphlet Hand Held Winner, 1988 Winner, STV Creative Writing Prize, Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde Winner, 1988 Keith Wright Memorial Prize for Poetry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Winner, 1987 Keith Wright Memorial Prize for Poetry, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow 'Richard Price retains an individual voice in which intense feelings of love, or dislocation, are packed into often short, complex lyrics. There is a tension in reading his poems which is created by his care for words, by the integrity of his distillation.' Carol Ann Duffy Praise for Richard Price 'It's an extraordinary book... Price has often been characterised by his delicacy and precision, his flexible sensuality of tone and gentleness, a domestic familiarity and a sense of respect that is neither pious nor self-regarding, and never sentimental. But here is a new departure, as if the arrival of a child later in the poet's life, and the imposing, impending threats of violence in the world around us, heighten both the claims of the human and the principles of virtue that obtain within the poetry itself.' Alan Riach, The National 'The book is refreshingly without judgment of the Inuit's customs and mores.' Jacqueline Schaalje, Mayday Magazine 'The Owner of the Sea brings Arctic cultural history to new audiences. In Price's skilful rendering, these retellings of Inuit myths leave the reader wanting to learn more about the rich heritage of our neighbours in the north.' Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir, The Bottle Imp '[a] wonderful and unexpectedly timely book.' David James, Anchorage Daily News 'There is nothing missing. The stories inhabit a world compounded of the continuing subsistence hunting economy and centuries of shamanistic magic in which animals, especially hunted animals, will speak to you, seduce you, trick you, help you, murder you... as indeed the humans do to each other. They are full of sexual and scatological obscenities, acts of cruelty, dishonour and betrayal not to mention cannibalism, and it's all there; nothing is toned down. One can freely feel that the Inuit imaginative sphere is faithfully and fearlessly represented.' Peter Riley, The Fortnightly Review 'Each tale is full of bawdy, fun and cruelty in the best of the old storytelling tradition. Price walks a tightrope between outright filth and respectable poetic style with an effortlessness that is majestic to behold...These are stories that should be more well-known, and Price's translation ought to become the standard version in English. A timeless collection.' Joe Darlington, Manchester Review of Books 'True myths are contradictory, ambiguous, always shape-shifting as much as the characters. Price captures this with precision... Price's poetry has always had a lapidary quality balanced with a lilting, almost nursery rhyme rhythm. It works exceptionally well in this collection.' Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman 'He is a poet with a huge range of styles, for whom no subject matter is outlawed... He clusters similar poems so they sing to each other - a group of nature poems, a medley of songs - and the opening, penultimate and final poems are gracious, gentle and pleasing. We're never in any doubt that we're in the company of an unusual intelligence, but he is clever in a generous way.' Mandy Haggith, Gutter Magazine 'Poets have to be linguistic virtuosi, but I prefer them to be brilliant quietly. Richard Price's poetry is inventive, sometimes dazzling, but never merely showy. I first came to Price's poetry with the publication of Lucky Day (2005) and every subsequent book has delivered fresh weather. Moon for Sale appeared in January 2017, and I'm still rereading it and finding new pleasures.' Carol Rumens, Best Poetry Books of 2017, The Guardian 'A wryly playful poet...' The TLS 'There are also beautiful, intimate love poems which served to remind me that even in sad and dangerous times, human sweetness can prevail. There are also many moments of delicious humour.' Josephine Corcoran, The North, Issue 58 (Summer 2017) 'Reading the poems you become aware you are in the presence of a mind working much more quickly and sharply than your own.' The Poetry School 'Price's humane intelligence manifests itself in deceptively simple and subtly musical forms of address. Readers who allow themselves the pleasure will not be disappointed.' Robert Potts, The Guardian '...when you come to such energy combined with impressive inventiveness and lyricism, it is rather hard to pass on by [...] the humour, the wittiness [are] there throughout, as is a boldness of utterance [...] Here, however sorrowful the story, I hope other readers too will feel the energy of language in the making.' Caroline Clark, Eyewear 'A superb first line, 'No colours can mean more than Lego's' ('Delicate greenery'), leads on to an amazing arc of narrative and imagery and richness. There's playground slang and prejudice. And suddenly a pared-down, lyric directnessâ¦' Tony Williams, Magma 'Richard Price retains an individual voice in which intense feelings of love, or dislocation, are packed into often short, complex lyrics. There is a tension in reading his poems which is created by his care for words, by the integrity of his distillation.' Carol Ann Duffy	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog We've Moved! read more Books of the Year read more One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more
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