Rising Tide by Patricia Debney
There is a point when water comes in more quickly. You can say it’s the relative depths of nearshore and foreshore. You can recall how the gulls are able to stand a long way out, how the incline isn’t steep.
Only it always surprises me. Comes in at a rush. A white marker I put up is swallowed. A patch of stones clings on in the backwash. And I find I’m moving my shoes above the flood mark. Again.
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Patricia Debney has enjoyed continued critical success with her latest collection of poetry Littoral. The collection, which was Highly Commended by the Forward Prize earlier this year, has been included in ‘Poets Corner‘ of the Sunday Times this weekend. David Mills (Sunday Times Managing Editor of Arts and Leisure) included the poem Rising Tide and commented:
“The poem ends with an artless “Again”. It is about something overwhelming, and being surprised by it even when you know it’s out there – which is the way grief operates.”
Littoral is a collection of prose poems was written while on a six-week residency in a beach hut on the North Kent coast. In it she charts the shift from grief to acceptance of her young son’s diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. The poetry collection was launched in London and Canterbury earlier this year.
Patricia was the guest speaker for the S@ve as Writers Group in Canterbury on Sunday 10th November. The group, which has a longstanding relationship with the School of English, meet once a month and attract the best in local, national and international talent. Patricia read from Littoral and some new work from the next collection, Baby.