DAVID LINKLATER

WHY I WEAR MY PAST TO WORK

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"Chris Campbell's writing shows us that the domestic world – the human world, the interpersonal world – is not the opposite of the sublime but the very place where the sublime takes root. Stevens proposed that 'being there together is enough, ' and out of this belief, Campbell makes heartfelt, compelling, and deeply true poems." – Joseph Fasano, Author of The Last Song of the World, BOA Editions, Ltd

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"Chris Campbell's poems mine the jewels of life from the sudden raw dark of serious illness.... Chris deftly recovers himself from disintegrating language to face up to the tyranny of time. This collection is a celebration of life from a poet who knows its worth...." – Martin Figura, Author of The Remaining Men, Cinnamon Press

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"This impressive collection of poems strums the heart strings, composing moving melodies of meticulous metaphors and sentiment filled similes.... A nature-noticing, thought-provoking, heartbreaking, joyous, wholesome, transparent and vivid read. An all-consuming sensory experience of beautiful dreams, harsh realities and silver linings." – Jemima Hughes, Author of Into The Ordinary, Verve Poetry Press

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"This gem of a collection is a finely crafted meditation on family life and a testimony to the changes wrought by fatherhood.... The poetry is never less than delicate, but its sheer emotional heft will catch you unawares." – Lesley Curwen, Author of Rescue Lines, The Hedgehog Poetry Press

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".... In a world of books which want to devastate you, Campbell is content to remind you that you could at any moment be devastated. He allows you to carry on with your day-for now at least. This is a quiet momento mori of a book full of love, regret, curiosity, inevitability, and truth." – Tom Sastry, Author of Life Expectancy Begins to Fall, Nine Arches Press

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"Campbell captures the minutia of the world in exquisite detail. These are personal, humorous and poignant poems rooted in the tragi-comedy of daily life. His snapshots of moments, landscapes and characters are skillfully and empathically written. They linger in the mind of the reader, demanding to be read again." – Kitty Donnelly, Author of In Dangerous Hours, Indigo Dreams Publishing

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"... a luminous, heartfelt collection that gently uncovers the profound within the everyday, offering a quiet mysticism that invites the reader to meet each moment with curiosity, gratitude, and awe. With crystalline craftsmanship and emotional depth, Campbell transforms domestic scenes; parenting, home life and work, into exquisite verse. Fatherhood, masculinity, and working life are explored with rare honesty and grace, turning memory into a form of witness that is both intimate and universal, infusing the quiet poetry of domestic life with lyric enchantment. The result is a collection that feels deeply personal and fiercely true - an extraordinary addition to an already impressive body of work." – Samatar Elmi, Author of The Epic of Cader Idris, Flipped Eye Publishing

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"Chris Campbell's playful, lyrical second collection interrogates aspects of life that we so easily take for granted and transforms them into rich tapestries of experience: in his artful, deft hands, the ordinary and mundane become intriguing, extraordinary.... Chris unleashes the power of precision of detail and language. The colloquial turns into the arresting. The odd becomes beautiful. The taunting frustrations of life wriggle with humour. Why I Wear My Past to Work is an uplifting, hugely enjoyable collection that will have you lingering on individual poems, re-reading them, but wanting to devour more. Already, I can't wait for Chris's third collection to appear." – Robert Walton, Author of Sax Burglar Blues, Seren Books

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"It’s no exaggeration to say that Chris Campbell’s collection is a delight to read. If you enjoy the wit and energy of John McCullough and Caroline Bird and are engaged by Jen Feroze and Jack Bedell’s warmly perceptive poems on family and friendship, you’ll want to embrace this heartwarming, wry collection, which excels in shining a light on the small treasures of life in a crafted, economical style. Campbell is also one of the best around at poem titles which had me laughing out loud. Worth the money, alone." – Dr. Matthew M. C. Smith, Editor – Black Bough poetry and author of The Keeper of Aeons 

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ALL ISLAND NO SEA

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'Inventive and easy with nature these beautifully worded poems give you pause to reflect and become conscious of the present moment.’ – Henry Normal, BAFTA-winning TV and film producer, founder of Manchester Poetry Festival and co-founder of Nottingham Poetry Festival

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‘There are poems here to value and appreciate.’ – John Hegley, poet comedian and former TV and radio presenter

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‘In this buoyant collection about wading through life, people trudge in and out of houses, decorating them along the way. Growing older brings all kinds of paint splatters – some bright, some painful. These poems chart the identity crisis of a human island that has lost its ocean, leaving only a squawk and some wet socks. Perhaps, once all the wet socks are gathered, water can return. Campbell’s images unfold like a stepladder for us to climb.’ – Beth Calverley, poet and founder of The Poetry Machine and poet in residence at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

 

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WHITE EYE OF THE NEEDLE

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'Stunning, sensual and subtle. In White Eye of the Needle, we see a clear love of language with a deft alertness to the power of sound and what it can create. Combined with stunning images, this is a book to give those you love.' – Katherine Lockton, co-editor of South Bank Poetry

 

'These poems are sparkling with affection. Campbell finds beauty in the everyday, in the connections to each other and to the land. In a world when we are feeling cut off, these poems are like a bridge back to some sense of balance. They are celebrations of relationships, places and of being alive. Some of them feel like a home I’ve never been to.' – Poet and performer David Linklater, author of Black Box

 

'Chris Campbell's poems are accessible, enjoyable, and formally and stylistically thoughtful and dextrous – as in 'Yellow dress', which empathetically slips into and out of ballad metre, or the well-pitched epigram 'Time doesn’t slow', or the subtle uses of slant-rhyme and couplets in 'Last night of our honeymoon', in which 'We eat side by side, the candle facing us, / The taps of shoes are circling // But beside us, a restaurant sits empty, / Laid out cutlery and glass'. A lot of the explorations in these poems are personal, but this is no solipsist's diary: he is constantly conscious of the power a poet can have to touch someone's heart by revealing his own.' – Poet Rory Waterman, senior lecturer in English and Creative Writing, Nottingham Trent University

 

'At a time when the world feels a little darker, White Eye of the Needle invites the reader to gaze upon a world where "houses rub shoulders", "the taps of shoes are circling" and dawn spreads its welcome light "like the oranges brightening Seville". In this tender, wistful collection, Campbell observes humanity with a sharp eye – where the lockdown poems offer a relatable and searingly honest depiction of our days transfixed on blinking screens, there is always the human touch to offer relief in a lemon dress, the notes of 'Für Elise', tumbling hedgerows and the tender simplicity of a shared meal with a loved one. Like the flowers that push through its city gardens, this is a collection that reminds us that it's the human connection and the power of the natural world that keep hope alive in a world gone dark.' – Natalie Ann Holborow, award-winning poet and former versifier in residence at Dylan Thomas Birthplace

 

'A collection light at heart with poems reaching out to us as if postcards from Campbell's life.' – Georgina Wilding, creative director of Nottingham Poetry Festival, former Nottingham Young Poet Laureate

 

'The poems in Campbell's White Eye of the Needle serve, like the landform the book is named for, as both frame and portal. As a frame they help contain life's experiences of love and loss and, as a portal, they allow us to look through to the inner heart of what matters. The subtle use of rhyme, control of form and an attention to the things of life – olives, bicycles, clothes – give the collection colours and textures which sit comfortably alongside the white space within the poems, and the illustrations which complement them. This collection is an accomplished capturing of moments.' – Claire Dyer, poet and novelist, former chair of Reading Writers