Memory Tree by Gareth Culshaw Nick Laird laugh-out-loud funny – ‘like having

laugh-out-loud funny – ‘like having a bad boyfriend in a good band’ – though there is always wisdom beyond the punchline

is more than a book of poems

from PBS Choice Split by Jana Adcock to works by Charlotte Ansell

and of her own strategies for living as one of them

The Day Laid Bare

Memory Tree by Gareth Culshaw Nick Laird laugh-out-loud funny – ‘like havingMemory Tree is crammed with imagery, giving glimpses of the lives of dog walkers, cleaners, miner's wives, and builders. Culshaw's people are the locals 'there's rain, there's sky dishes, small back gardens a neighbour who swops him a handshake'. Gareth Culshaw has an alert, original eye, and a tumbling, energising use of metaphor 'There's a light behind each eye, maybe shines, or dims with each drag of his rollie'. This is a collection to savour.