Dear Crane

By Susan Wicks

A giant crane appears at the back windows of a residential street, its beam swinging freely, its red ‘eye’ seeming to overlook the lives on the other side of the glass. In her eighth collection of poems, Susan Wicks writes searchingly about our ordinary existence, its serendipities and unreliable sense-impressions, its delight in a new generation, its brief escapes – but this earthbound perspective is also part of an implicit dialogue. Under the crane new buildings spring up, seasons shift, perspective varies, until, its work completed, the giant machine is ready to be driven away. By the time it leaves, the landscape we knew will have changed and we too will have moved on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Feb 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781780375298

Susan Wicks

Susan Wicks grew up in Kent, but has lived in France, Ireland and the US. She is the author of two previous novels, a short memoir, six collections of poetry and a book of stories. Cold Spring in Winter, her translation of the French poet Valerie Rouzeau, was shortlisted for Canada's international Griffin Prize and won the Scott-Moncrieff Prize for Literary Translation. Her most recent book, House of Tongues, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is married with two adult daughters.