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Excerpt
Author
Contents
Awards
Reviews

If 'Two halves of nothing'
cuts out on the radio,
if the river's up
past the stereo,
if everything good
you needed to know
gets lost in the flood,
you remember it
after love.

from 'Two halves of nothing'

Teasing, funny and celebratory - Rays is a wry and tender lover's gift. Continuing Richard Price's virtuosic playfulness of form, it improvises on the formal shape of sonnet and canzone, charging them with the energy of blues and rock, glimpsing narratives of desire. In a restless, sleepless landscape where language becomes shrill, an alphabet of love poems creates a dreamy island, between the solace of haiku and the precisions of Emily Dickinson. The Renaissance poet Louise Labé and an imaginary band, The Loss Adjusters, sing the complex beauties of passion.

Cover painting: Passing Aquaintance by Dorothy Stirling (2009), reproduced by kind permission of the artist. Cover design by StephenRaw.com.

Contents

Freehold

Wake Up and Sleep
The thought keeps counting
Continuous Positive Air Pressure
Wake up and sleep

Lute Variations
Your eyes translate me
From the moment
Lute, companion

Earliest Spring Yet
About this
The idea
Manet with Mardy
Formal
Melancholy plumber
A shape, the past
Off,
As if a song
Babyshambles
Resonant frequency
Channel Link
A century find
Volume
Shells
Internationalist
Earliest spring yet
Flax
Shades on
Wren
Age of Exploration
The long low structure
Dippers –

Languor’s Whispers

Songs for the Loss Adjusters
Parkway
Work’s over
Trackside fires
Ambulance work
Two halves of nothing
Last train, full of couples
I’m writing to write again
[Hidden track]

little but often

Rhyme nor Reason

The Line
Countless
Informer (1)
Informer (2)
Informer (3)
The line
Griefy train
The snow gets it
Waymoat
Ties

Darkness and Dazzle
Question time
Darkness and dazzle

Rotavator
Non-reflective glass
Like a student gardener

Golden Key

Richard Price was born in 1966 and grew up in Scotland. He was educated at Napier College, Edinburgh and at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. In the 1990s he became a leading figure in the Informationist movement in Scottish poetry. Richard Price has published a dozen books of poetry since his debut in ... 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

Praise for Richard Price '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 '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 '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

Quote of the Day an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America. Seamus Heaney Home Events Authors Titles Jubilee Bundles Paperback Hardback Limited Edition Journal CD eBook Audiobook Imprints Anvil Press Poetry Aspects of Portugal Audio Books Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry FyfieldBooks Lintott Press Little Island Press Lives and Letters Northern House OxfordPoets PN Review Sheep Meadow Press Information About Us Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! Academic Enquiries Authors For Events Catalogue Contact Us Copyright and Permissions Join Our Mailing List Opportunities at Carcanet Press Enquiries PN Review PN Review Creative Writing Prize Returns Policy Shopping Guide Stocklist Submission Guidelines Trade Information Resources Audio Gallery Reading Group Guides Video
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Rays Richard Price RRP: GBP 9.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP 0.99 Price: GBP 8.96 Available This title is available for academic inspection (paperback only). Paperback ISBN: 978 1 847770 10 3 Categories: 21st Century, British, Scottish Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Published: October 2009 216 x 135 x 13 mm 80 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Also available in: eBook (EPUB), eBook (Kindle), eBook (PDF) Description Excerpt Author Contents Awards Reviews If 'Two halves of nothing' cuts out on the radio, if the river's up past the stereo, if everything good you needed to know gets lost in the flood, you remember it after love. from 'Two halves of nothing' Teasing, funny and celebratory - Rays is a wry and tender lover's gift. Continuing Richard Price's virtuosic playfulness of form, it improvises on the formal shape of sonnet and canzone, charging them with the energy of blues and rock, glimpsing narratives of desire. In a restless, sleepless landscape where language becomes shrill, an alphabet of love poems creates a dreamy island, between the solace of haiku and the precisions of Emily Dickinson. The Renaissance poet Louise Labé and an imaginary band, The Loss Adjusters, sing the complex beauties of passion. Cover painting: Passing Aquaintance by Dorothy Stirling (2009), reproduced by kind permission of the artist. Cover design by StephenRaw.com. Contents Freehold Wake Up and Sleep The thought keeps counting Continuous Positive Air Pressure Wake up and sleep Lute Variations Your eyes translate me From the moment Lute, companion Earliest Spring Yet About this The idea Manet with Mardy Formal Melancholy plumber A shape, the past Off, As if a song Babyshambles Resonant frequency Channel Link A century find Volume Shells Internationalist Earliest spring yet Flax Shades on Wren Age of Exploration The long low structure Dippers – Languor’s Whispers Songs for the Loss Adjusters Parkway Work’s over Trackside fires Ambulance work Two halves of nothing Last train, full of couples I’m writing to write again [Hidden track] little but often Rhyme nor Reason The Line Countless Informer (1) Informer (2) Informer (3) The line Griefy train The snow gets it Waymoat Ties Darkness and Dazzle Question time Darkness and dazzle Rotavator Non-reflective glass Like a student gardener Golden Key Richard Price was born in 1966 and grew up in Scotland. He was educated at Napier College, Edinburgh and at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. In the 1990s he became a leading figure in the Informationist movement in Scottish poetry. Richard Price has published a dozen books of poetry since his debut in ... 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 Praise for Richard Price '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 '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 '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 You might also be interested in: Lucky Day Richard Price	Share this... Quick Links Jubilee Bundles Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! 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