Paperback
978-1-77212-601-3Size: 5¼" x 9"
Pages: 80
Pages: 80
epub
978-1-77212-708-9Separation Anxiety
Robert Kroetsch Series
By Gavin Bradley
This poignant debut by Gavin Bradley explores the emotional toll of different kinds of separation: from a partner, a previously held sense of self, or a home and the people left behind. The main narrative describes the deterioration of a long-term relationship, interweaving poems dealing with the loneliness of immigration and the anxiety of separation from Northern Ireland, the poet’s homeland. These personal poems enter their stories through a variety of characters and places, from dock builders to dogs, from shorelines to volcanoes, to “mouths soft and humming like beehives.” Other sections of the collection examine a post-Troubles’ experience in Northern Ireland (evoking the lived-experience of growing up with bombs and domineering Catholicism), tell grandfather stories, and show a lasting love for the people, the language, and the land. Separation Anxiety ultimately conveys a message of hope, reminding us that “we’ll be remembered for / ourselves, and not the spaces we / leave behind.”
Book details
Publication date: March 2022Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: Loss Separation Breakup Relationships Immigration Prairies Belfast Northern Ireland The Troubles Family Catholicism Confessional Poetry Lyricism
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian / General, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Poetry, POETRY / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, Poetry by individual poets, Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards), United Kingdom, Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, Loss Separation Breakup Relationships Immigration Prairies Belfast Northern Ireland The Troubles Family Catholicism Confessional Poetry Lyricism, Poetry / Canadian Literature, Canadian Literature, Poetry
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: March 2022Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: Loss Separation Breakup Relationships Immigration Prairies Belfast Northern Ireland The Troubles Family Catholicism Confessional Poetry Lyricism
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian / General, Creative Writing, Creative Writing / Poetry, POETRY / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, Poetry by individual poets, Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards), United Kingdom, Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, Loss Separation Breakup Relationships Immigration Prairies Belfast Northern Ireland The Troubles Family Catholicism Confessional Poetry Lyricism, Poetry / Canadian Literature, Canadian Literature, Poetry
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Gavin Bradley. Gavin Bradley is an award-winning writer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently living in Edmonton, on Treaty 6 territory. His work has appeared in The Irish Times, The North, Best New British and Irish Poets, and Glass Buffalo.
#3 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 3, 2022
Separation Anxiety follows the deterioration of a long-term relationship, interweaving poems dealing with the loneliness of immigration and the anxiety of separation from home. The idea was to explore the emotional toll of different kinds of separation and loss, but to do so without losing a sense of hope that things can get better. I think it’s a book that a lot of people can relate to. Whether you’re part of an immigrant community or not, separation is something we all go through at different times in our lives.
Bradley deals with difficult emotions he’s revealing to a wider audience, a level of vulnerability and exposure that can be challenging. But it can also lead to something constructive, a release valve.
#7 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 10, 2022
#2 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, June 5, 2022
#1 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, June 12, 2022
#8 on the Alberta Non-fiction Bestsellers list, June 12, 2022
#9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, January 15, 2023
#8 on the Alberta Non-fiction Bestsellers list, March 19, 2023
#2 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, March 19, 2023
#10 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 23, 2023
#10 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 14, 2023
“From its first ‘soundless swan dive’, Gavin Bradley's Separation Anxiety grips, immediate and compelling. Bradley's ‘song-stew’ lyricism, salted with the cadence of his native Belfast, simmers with vivid imagery, at times startling and unsettling. Peppered with uneasy ghosts of the Northern Ireland Troubles, foundered love and dicey characters (himself no less), this is ‘holy water’ with a sting to summon and salve the exiled and the albatrossed of heart. Separation Anxiety is a brilliant, potent, poignant and significant debut by a poet destined to make his mark.”
Anne Casey, award-winning writer and poet
“Gavin Bradley writes with great heart, vulnerability, and an engaging lilt and lyricism, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey historically, geographically, and emotionally.”
Joanna Lilley, author of Endlings
Bridges of Struga International Poetry Award
Winner
2023
2 Hemingway’s Cosmonaut
3 September
4 Eating Our Words
5 Strange Kettle of Fish
a haon
8 Although I Can See him Still
10 Laying the Docks
12 Brine
13 Out with the Tide
II
16 False Spring
17 Persephone Starts to Wonder
18 Blood Warm
19 Chrysalis
20 Pockets
21 Why Couples Are Like Expressionists
22 Hidden Moons
23 Mead
a dó
26 Sanctuary
27 Blue Plain Skies
28 Homebody Ghosts
III
30 God Moves His Divan
32 Gossamer
34 What We Can Learn from Gutenberg and the Protestants
35 The Fox
36 Crossing the River with Hera
a trí
38 It’ll Be Good for the Kids
39 Unburst Lights
40 The Blazer Brigade
42 The Liminal Sorts
IV
44 Grand Canyon
45 Probably a Bit of Pathetic Fallacy
46 Easy Love
47 Gobi
48 Koi no yokan
a ceathair
50 Dead Language
51 Birds of Paradise
52 Albatross
53 The Space between Breaths
V
56 Panic Attack at a Stag Party in Whitefish, Montana
57 Challenge Your Self Talk
58 In with the Tide
60 Uncoupling
62 Scales
64 Epiphanies at the End of the World
65 Remainder
a cúig
68 Going Home
69 Being an Albatross
70 Acknowledgements
72 Sometimes, a haiku:
Gavin Bradley. Gavin Bradley is an award-winning writer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently living in Edmonton, on Treaty 6 territory. His work has appeared in The Irish Times, The North, Best New British and Irish Poets, and Glass Buffalo.
#3 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 3, 2022
Separation Anxiety follows the deterioration of a long-term relationship, interweaving poems dealing with the loneliness of immigration and the anxiety of separation from home. The idea was to explore the emotional toll of different kinds of separation and loss, but to do so without losing a sense of hope that things can get better. I think it’s a book that a lot of people can relate to. Whether you’re part of an immigrant community or not, separation is something we all go through at different times in our lives.
Bradley deals with difficult emotions he’s revealing to a wider audience, a level of vulnerability and exposure that can be challenging. But it can also lead to something constructive, a release valve.
#7 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 10, 2022
#2 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, June 5, 2022
#1 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, June 12, 2022
#8 on the Alberta Non-fiction Bestsellers list, June 12, 2022
#9 on Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, January 15, 2023
#8 on the Alberta Non-fiction Bestsellers list, March 19, 2023
#2 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, March 19, 2023
#10 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, April 23, 2023
#10 on the Edmonton Poetry Bestsellers list, May 14, 2023
“From its first ‘soundless swan dive’, Gavin Bradley's Separation Anxiety grips, immediate and compelling. Bradley's ‘song-stew’ lyricism, salted with the cadence of his native Belfast, simmers with vivid imagery, at times startling and unsettling. Peppered with uneasy ghosts of the Northern Ireland Troubles, foundered love and dicey characters (himself no less), this is ‘holy water’ with a sting to summon and salve the exiled and the albatrossed of heart. Separation Anxiety is a brilliant, potent, poignant and significant debut by a poet destined to make his mark.”
Anne Casey, award-winning writer and poet
“Gavin Bradley writes with great heart, vulnerability, and an engaging lilt and lyricism, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey historically, geographically, and emotionally.”
Joanna Lilley, author of Endlings
Bridges of Struga International Poetry Award
Winner
2023
2 Hemingway’s Cosmonaut
3 September
4 Eating Our Words
5 Strange Kettle of Fish
a haon
8 Although I Can See him Still
10 Laying the Docks
12 Brine
13 Out with the Tide
II
16 False Spring
17 Persephone Starts to Wonder
18 Blood Warm
19 Chrysalis
20 Pockets
21 Why Couples Are Like Expressionists
22 Hidden Moons
23 Mead
a dó
26 Sanctuary
27 Blue Plain Skies
28 Homebody Ghosts
III
30 God Moves His Divan
32 Gossamer
34 What We Can Learn from Gutenberg and the Protestants
35 The Fox
36 Crossing the River with Hera
a trí
38 It’ll Be Good for the Kids
39 Unburst Lights
40 The Blazer Brigade
42 The Liminal Sorts
IV
44 Grand Canyon
45 Probably a Bit of Pathetic Fallacy
46 Easy Love
47 Gobi
48 Koi no yokan
a ceathair
50 Dead Language
51 Birds of Paradise
52 Albatross
53 The Space between Breaths
V
56 Panic Attack at a Stag Party in Whitefish, Montana
57 Challenge Your Self Talk
58 In with the Tide
60 Uncoupling
62 Scales
64 Epiphanies at the End of the World
65 Remainder
a cúig
68 Going Home
69 Being an Albatross
70 Acknowledgements
72 Sometimes, a haiku:
