"My daughter arrived in a human world tangibly and irrecoverably
malfunctioning, and her vulnerability terrified me. I found myself resituated in it, or in relation to it, in ways I could not control or comprehend. Outside, it got worse and worse and every so often I wrote a poem: a poem about fear, a poem about gratitude, a poem about love, about joy, about her, about me, about difficulty, love again, fear again, and sometimes many of these things at once."
malfunctioning, and her vulnerability terrified me. I found myself resituated in it, or in relation to it, in ways I could not control or comprehend. Outside, it got worse and worse and every so often I wrote a poem: a poem about fear, a poem about gratitude, a poem about love, about joy, about her, about me, about difficulty, love again, fear again, and sometimes many of these things at once."
Jack Underwood’s debut collection of poems Happiness (Faber, 2015) won the Somerset Maugham Award. He is a senior lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His non-fiction book Not Even This, about parenthood, uncertainty, poetic language and knowledge, was published by Corsair. A Year in the New Life is Jack Underwood's much-anticipated second collection.
A Year in the New life is available to order here with 25% off for PBS Members.