Living by Troubled Waters

By Roy McFarlane

Living by Troubled Waters is the third poetry collection by Roy McFarlane – an extraordinary, uncompromising book exploring slavery, colonialism, and the continued tragedies visited upon Black bodies whilst these legacies remain unresolved. In his close examination of the horror of racialised violence, McFarlane examines how the strong currents of the past and present flow side by side. His poems ask us to think about the Black Mediterranean of today as much as we do about the Windrush scandal and the aftershocks of trans-Atlantic slavery, where Black people are still imprisoned, enslaved and drowned as they flee persecution and poverty.
Living by Troubled Waters is innovative, formally experimental and far ranging in scope; erasure & inclusion (to make known) poems interweave and speak to the wider body of the collection. In his use of archival documents as a space for activism and linguistic intervention, McFarlane writes back into history, reclaiming voices and reshaping narratives. His poems also draw strength from themes of place and displacement, social justice, Black motherhood, family, art - and from the power of poetry itself as a witness to troubled times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nine Arches Press
• Release date: Oct 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781913437558

Roy McFarlane

Roy McFarlane is a Poet, Playwright and former Youth & Community Worker born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage spending most of his years living in Wolverhampton and the Black Country, now residing in Brighton. Roy is Canal Laureate for Britain, and Birmingham & Midlands Institute Poet in Residence, as well as being the former Birmingham Poet Laureate. From Amsterdam to Philadelphia, Roy has shared his passion for social justice, equality, identity, love and the healing power of poetry as a witness to our times. His debut collection, Beginning With Your Last Breath, was followed by The Healing Next Time, (Nine Arches Press 2018) shortlisted for the Ted Hughes award and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. He has an MA in Writing Poetry from Newcastle University and the Poetry School.

Book preview

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You are Impossible to Love (Part 1)

Windrush Generation # Paulette Wilson (died) # Kenneth Williams # Junior Green # Judy Griffith # Windrush Generation # Jeffery Miller # Winston Jones # Dexter Bristol (died) # Windrush Generation # Valerie Baker # Richard Stewart

You are the child of Windrush, sweet and bitters. You are the unwanted truth written in the pleats of your mother’s summer dress. You are love and lust in the time of the Big Freeze. You are the seasons changing. You are the tears cried through the inquisition of tell me the name of his father. You are the growing burden, the choice to be made. You are the unwanted, the