Signs, Music
(Author) Raymond Antrobus'I became fatherless at 26 and a fatherat 35 and whenever I look outthe living room window I feel myselfbecome the child left alone in the house'Centred around two lyric poems on imminent fatherhood and the birth of a child, Signs, Music is a book about masculinity, fatherhood, and love. The speaker, looking backwards to his late father and forwards to his new son, prepares to become a parent for the first time. Meditating on the cognitive and emotional dissonances between the 'hypothetical' and the 'real' of becoming a father, this irreversible transition causes the poet's 'lines [to] lead towards my father (again!)'.Charting the ways parenthood disrupts the poet's sense of self, and how the pain of the past triggers fears of 'fatherly failure', Signs, Music is a staggeringly profound collection from one of Britain's most adept poets writing today.
Raymond Antrobus
Raymond Antrobus is a British-Jamaican poet and educator known for his powerful explorations of identity, language, and deafness in his work. His debut collection "The Perseverance" won the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry in 2019, making him the first poet of color and the first deaf poet to receive the prestigious award. Antrobus' poetry often blends British Sign Language with spoken English, creating a unique and immersive reading experience. His work challenges traditional notions of communication and highlights the complexities of being a deaf person of color in contemporary society. Antrobus is a trailblazer in the literary world, using his platform to advocate for greater accessibility and representation for marginalized voices in literature.
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