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A Quietus is a collection that contemplates calm spaces between moments of life and reflects on the process of our release from existence.
Josephine Lay’s A Quietus is lyrical and sharply observed. The poems cover a range of subjects, which always seem to be seeking the balance between beauty and the inevitable darkness of decay; to ‘reach for the scissors/ cut away the frills/ unlace the corset’ (‘Sewn Up’), to see the risk in truly living.
– Angela France
Delicate yet fierce, spare yet multi layered… an emotionally affecting collection written by a poet who affirms life by interrogating mortality. A Quietus is a lyrical and erudite lesson in surrender. In a series of nuanced and carefully crafted poems we discover ways to live, and to face death, and how, when we encounter the reaper - we must ' learn to fall gracefully/ gilded by the folds of her cloak’, but not before ‘grasping hold of love like a lifebelt’.
– Anna Saunders
The lodestar of Josephine Lay’s A Quietus is nature. In these meditations… the poet helps us find solace, orientation and hope in the natural world. …these poems speak of the constraints imposed upon us by human society, the desire for creative fulfilment, while acknowledging our fragile mortal condition. …she explores the power of poetry to heal the loss of those we love, how we can ‘hold them close and carry them’…
– David Clarke
Josephine Lay’s poems are fearless intaglios that stir and disturb. They breathe with yearning and wonder. Like all great poets, she brings the full force of her curiosity to the question of what it is to be human.
– Thomas Trofimuk, Waiting for Columbus
A Quietus is a collection that contemplates calm spaces between moments of life and reflects on the process of our release from existence.
Josephine Lay’s A Quietus is lyrical and sharply observed. The poems cover a range of subjects, which always seem to be seeking the balance between beauty and the inevitable darkness of decay; to ‘reach for the scissors/ cut away the frills/ unlace the corset’ (‘Sewn Up’), to see the risk in truly living.
– Angela France
Delicate yet fierce, spare yet multi layered… an emotionally affecting collection written by a poet who affirms life by interrogating mortality. A Quietus is a lyrical and erudite lesson in surrender. In a series of nuanced and carefully crafted poems we discover ways to live, and to face death, and how, when we encounter the reaper - we must ' learn to fall gracefully/ gilded by the folds of her cloak’, but not before ‘grasping hold of love like a lifebelt’.
– Anna Saunders
The lodestar of Josephine Lay’s A Quietus is nature. In these meditations… the poet helps us find solace, orientation and hope in the natural world. …these poems speak of the constraints imposed upon us by human society, the desire for creative fulfilment, while acknowledging our fragile mortal condition. …she explores the power of poetry to heal the loss of those we love, how we can ‘hold them close and carry them’…
– David Clarke
Josephine Lay’s poems are fearless intaglios that stir and disturb. They breathe with yearning and wonder. Like all great poets, she brings the full force of her curiosity to the question of what it is to be human.
– Thomas Trofimuk, Waiting for Columbus