Ghost & Other Sonnets

Geraldine Monk was born in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1952. Since first being published in the 1970s she has written six major collections of poetry and numerous chapbooks. Her writing has appeared extensively in the both the UK and the USA. As an extension to her activities in poetry she collaborates with many musicians including Martin Archer, Charlie Collins and Julie Tippetts. A collection of essays on her poetry, The Salt Companion to Geraldine Monk, edited by Scott Thurston, was brought out in 2007 by Salt Publishing.

• ContentsGhost1 ‘It started with a tryst and twist of ...’2 ‘Light a nightlight flimsy ...’3 ‘Agitation shocked the public library ...’4 ‘Swallow-tail moth artificially lit ...’5 ‘Desperation clung to petulant ...’6 ‘Sided by accident she wandered in a ...’7 ‘Chronic webbings. Intrigue. ...’8 ‘The disembodied head looked ...’9 ‘Then another door shut in ...’10 ‘An unearthly grown so sickly he ...’11 ‘Newly installed double ...’12 ‘The trans-Pennine late night train ...’13 ‘An angularity of hate stoked the room ...’14 ‘Was it moving? In a heart ...’15 ‘Spell binder driven wet. Two ...’16 ‘Exaggeration of bird song impaled ...’17 ‘A cumulonimbus of cupped hands ...’18 ‘Bypassing that room no one dared ...’19 ‘Sciatica nerves slews posture ...’20 ‘Ghost of her ghosts ...’&21 ‘In fear we lay longitudinal. ...’22 ‘The heart-shaped lavender was ...’23 ‘Parting such sweet succulent flesh ...’24 ‘She strained her eyes through muslin ...’25 ‘A rare whiff. Aromas were way loud ...’26 ‘Big-time snow deafened. Bedrooms ...’27 ‘Wasted suburban garden ...’28 ‘It recurs: the ...’29 ‘A second glance and then another ...’30 ‘When the fog partially cleared ...’31 ‘Not waking and finding herself ...’32 ‘Onto my frozen fingers came ...’33 ‘Driven to the edge by wind chimes ...’34 ‘So remote it was beyond ...’35 ‘Army of shadows infiltrates ...’36 ‘No cigarettes in the ashtray. Between a ...’37 ‘Topping the head ...’38 ‘Shocking pink lips kissed sepia ...’39 ‘What makes you look in at the ...’40 ‘In her heart of hearts larks and ...’Other41 ‘Cornering on a black fen. From kerb to ...’42 ‘Something wicked this way ...’43 ‘Prising eyes against the future ...’44 ‘After three days with ...’45 ‘Batten down the letter box. ...’46 ‘She slid one out. Delicately ...’47 ‘A distraught toe ...’48 ‘At the bottom of the bowl it nudged his ...’49 ‘What malice-driven hand ...’50 ‘Opening the envelope he found another ...’51 ‘When a storm sweeps up from ...’52 ‘For some reason it was in a ...’53 ‘Reconfiguring spaghetti ...’54 ‘Have I written this before? This ...’55 ‘Whatever it was it came to pass the ...’56 ‘Time out of mind the beasts of the pillows ...’57 ‘Stumpy staring in ...’58 ‘Water from the tap wasn’t water ...’59 ‘Hefted sheep leap a burning moat. Mint ...’60 ‘Thus spake someone from the water ...’61 ‘Others floundered. Crashed awkward ...’62 ‘Swan song. Anticipation blitzed in a ...’

For Monk, even the simplest & most familiar word comes across as opaque, its physicality & material otherness absolutely present.