Friday 31 January 2020

Launching I, Ursula


V. Press is very very delighted to launch I, Ursula, a collection of very haunting and very enigmatic poems by Ruth Stacey.

“Ruth Stacey's new collection revels in the frank and often stark geographies of mental health and the playful and often political complexities of the muse. By creating a sweeping panorama of the blindingly-bright – and occasionally dangerous – contexts in which the muse inspires, cajoles, and deceives, I, Ursula animates the raw truths of emotional fragility and various forms of haunting through a staggering range of voices and ghostly imaginings. This inventive tour of connection and disconnection, observing and being observed, leaves the reader contemplating power dynamics in both relationships and the creation (and consumption) of art in chilling new ways.” Carolyn Jess-Cooke

“Stricken and painfully well-observed, Ruth Stacey’s new collection is replete with our magical excuses, boundless infatuations, loyalties and sanctuaries. Her work is particularly poignant on the porousness between our inner and outer lives. To enter the poems is to feel another consciousness pressing against your own through a boundary that seems, for a moment, not to exist.” Luke Kennard

I, Ursula is very haunting and very enigmatic.

ISBN: 978-1-9165052-7-8
72 pages
R.R.P. £10.99

A sample poem from I, Ursula can be enjoyed below.

 I, Ursula is now out of stock. (Feb 2023)

Averse Muse

If you don't want 
poems written about
you, then

do not make me fall in love with you
by seducing me softly until the honey
suckles.

You should flee female poets; their call
will transform you into a buck
leaping to escape the word dogs.

This is solid advice; it is true.
Beware, your brown eyes will turn bitter –
I am not just this season, not your bit of fun

because I will write poems that will petrify
your royal jelly into wax; I will
describe the growl that you make as you come.

LAUNCH EVENT

Friday 31 January, 2020,  7.00pm in the Studio of the Hive Library, Worcester.