poetry snapshots: shanta everington

Debut poetry chapbook from Shanta Everington

Shanta Everington’s debut poetry chapbook, Drowning in Cherryade, is published this month by US-based independent publisher, bedouin books, after winning their annual poetry chapbook competition.

 

Editor Michael D'Alessandro says, ‘Drowning in Cherryade conjures candy-colored scenes of youth mirrored in an examination of memories. Overwhelmed by first experiences, the poems are at once told with a resignedness to their outcomes, while maintaining a perspective of awkward fumbling for an anchor. This parallax affect helps complete the pictures presented here with a quick wit, a rooted voice and a few playful surprises.’

Excerpt:

 

To Die For

 

Half a packet of raindrops and

as much ice cold water as

you can drink for your body

to warm up and burn. He

 

pinches half a millimetre

of flesh on my ribs and says,

You need to take better care

of yourself, my dear. I peer

 

through the veil of my fringe and

nod my head three millimetres,

picturing my picture in the papers.

I can be ready in a week. I peek

 

at the tick next to my name.

Next. My smiling eyes roll

down over the twigs of my toes

and all the way to the park where

 

I will perform a hundred star jumps

and remember how your skin

used to shine when you laughed.

For you understood it was important.

 

***

 

Shanta has an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from MMU and teaches Creative Writing with The Open University in London. In addition to Drowning in Cherryade, she has published three novels and two non-fiction books. Visit http://www.shantaeverington.co.uk