26th September at 18:30–20:30, Tamesis Dock, Albert Embankment (opp no 9), between Vauxhall and Lambeth Bridge, London, SE1 7TP.
Join Penned in the Margins on the water of the Thames to celebrate the debut poetry collection from Elizabeth-Jane Burnett. A lyrical celebration of wild swimming, Swims will be official launched aboard Tamesis Dock in Lambeth. Join us from 6.30 for a reading by Elizabeth, drinks and your chance to pick up a copy of the book.
A long poem taking many forms, Swims begins and ends in Devon, moving across the waterways of England and Wales: from urban pond to open sea. The poet swims among fishermen on Grasmere, reimagines the body as bottle cap in the Channel, and clambers down the bank of the river Ouse with words scrawled on her swimsuit.
As political as they are personal, these meditations are conceived as environmental acts that probe the relationship between landscape, memory and the self. A sinuous, innovative debut, Swims reminds us of the power of swimming to transform the human spirit, registering what the water gives to us and what it takes away.
“These poems flow and sing through salt and sweet water, connecting time and place and spirit in an electric gesture of natural unity. Swims is a wondrous, perfect thing.” –
PHILIP HOARE, AUTHOR OF RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR AND LEVIATHAN, OR, THE WHALE
Free entry, but please RSVP to james@pennedinthemargins.co.uk
You can also watch Elizabeth reading from Swims for us at The Other Room here.