Brian Docherty was born in Glasgow and now
lives in north London. He was educated at Middlesex Polytechnic, the
University of Essex, London University Institute of Education, and
St. Mary's University College. He has had a variety of jobs,
including civil servant, hospital storeman, lecturer and creative
writing tutor. His previous books include Armchair Theatre,
(Hearing Eye, 1999), Desk with a View, (Hearing Eye, 2008),
and Woke Up This Morning, (Smokestack Books, 2012).
Independence Day moves on from previous
work, while still retaining some continuities in theme, style and
approach. It is a book of journeys, literal and metaphorical, making
use of ekphrastic techniques. The poems here start out from north
London, taking the reader to San Francisco, New York, Baku, Kuala
Lumpur, France, Russia, and back again, while remaining firmly
grounded in the writer's locale. As ever, political realities and
social issues are not neglected; these poems move to a contemporary
music without losing seriousness of purpose without resorting to
agit-prop.
“the reader enters a world that is personal but
always worked out against a detailed social backcloth. It's a
politics of everyday that comes through.”
Jim Burns, Poetry London
Newsletter
“it is a pleasure to find work that has
something to say and says it with with and perspicuity.”
Vernon Scannell, Ambit
“such a generous spirit, as well as a
writer of honesty, perception and sensitivity.”
Maura Dooley
“Brian Docherty writes well about politics
and survival/exile.
Ian MacMillan, The
Wide Skirt
“Brian Docherty's poems often tell stories. He
writes directly and clearly and his poems are all
well-structured. He has an instinct for the right word or image and
nothing in this collection seems out-of-place or pretentious. His
style is laconic, oblique, so each poem is a kind of little dam,
holding back the energy of outrage, disgust, despair, alienation and
disbelief.
Alan Dent, Mistress
Quickly's Bed
“Woke Up This Morning is a stirring
book which will pump a much-needed transfusion of indisputably red
blood around the heart of anyone who reads it.”
Alan Morrison, The
Recusant
Paperback 6" x 9" 81 pages
ISBN
978-1-326-16545-1
