Say Something Back and Time Lived, Without Its Flow
Reeks: Picador Collection
Denise Riley
- ‘She’s
- one
- of
- the
- best
- poets
- around’
- –
- **Andrew
- Motion,
- former
- Poet
- Laureate
- of
- the
- United
- KingdomPart
- poetry
- collection,
- part
- consolation,
- Say
- Something
- Back
- and
- Time
- Lived,
- Without
- Its
- Flow
- collects
- Denise
- Riley’s
- moving
- documents
- of
- loss
- and
- grief
- together
- for
- the
- first
- time.**Rocked
- by
- the
- horrific
- experience
- of
- maternal
- grief,
- Denise
- Riley
- wrote
- the
- much-celebrated
- Say
- Something
- Back,
- in
- which
- the
- poet-philosopher
- contemplates
- the
- natural
- world
- and
- physical
- law,
- and
- considers
- what
- it
- means
- to
- invoke
- those
- who
- are
- absent.
- These
- are
- poems
- which
- expand
- our
- sense
- of
- human
- speech
- and
- what
- it
- can
- mean,
- of
- what
- is
- drawn
- forth
- from
- us
- when
- we
- address
- our
- dead.These
- lyric
- poems
- and
- elegies
- are
- accompanied
- by
- the
- beautiful,
- unflinching
- Time
- Lived,
- Without
- Its
- Flow.
- Diary
- entries
- written
- after
- receiving
- news
- of
- her
- adult
- son’s
- death
- are
- woven
- into
- a
- life
- portrait
- of
- loss.
- A
- ruminative
- post-script
- to
- these
- diaries
- follows,
- in
- which
- Riley
- examines
- the
- experience
- with
- a
- philosopher’s
- precision,
- mapping
- through
- it
- a
- literature
- of
- consolation.Published
- in
- a
- single
- volume
- for
- the
- first
- time,
- Say
- Something
- Back
- and
- Time
- Lived,
- Without
- Its
- Flow
- offers
- with
- remarkable
- grace
- and
- insight
- kind
- counsel
- to
- all
- those
- living
- in
- the
- wake
- of grief.
