{"product_id":"9781784746032","title":"Afterburn","description":"\u003cb\u003e'Plain-speaking, intensely humane, and musical, \u003ci\u003eAfterburn\u003c\/i\u003e distils the insights of a seasoned memoirist into images that linger long after the final page' Julia Copus, author of \u003ci\u003eGirlhood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHere you are, on the balcony,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe sea serenading you,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe sun with its armful of light.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAfterburn\u003c\/i\u003e, Blake Morrison returns to poetry, his first calling, to offers scenes from his own life and the lives of others. In psychology, 'afterburn' refers to the time before a past event is assimilated – an idea that resonates through these poems (which themselves linger after reading) about memory and our attempts to articulate, shape or contain it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout the collection, not least in two extraordinary sequences – one about his sister, the other about Elizabeth Bishop – the poet sees with new eyes the turning points in a life's accidental course. What holds his wise, touching, melancholy yet joyful poems together are the small intimacies that bind us to others, under time’s lengthening shadow: ‘you moved too fast for me to catch you \/ and so did the years.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePlayful and charming, sometimes rakishly so, \u003ci\u003eAfterburn\u003c\/i\u003e nevertheless reveals an open, and vulnerable, heart.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Blake Morrison","offers":[{"title":"Random House UK |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2026-02-24","offer_id":47340765577471,"sku":"9781784746032","price":27.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_6660b5fa-e81f-402f-957e-69a82ecc9960.jpg?v=1760025432","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781784746032","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}