The reader might be justified in thinking that the M in the title of Colette Bryce's new poetry collection could stand for Mortality, Mother, Mourning, or the spontaneous and cathartic practice of the writer's 'morning pages' – until they reach the book's arresting central sequence. Addressed to 'M', a sibling who has suddenly died, this three-part poem depicts the experience of unexpected bereavement, and the altering effect such events have on the living. It does so unflinchingly, gracefully and honestly, as Bryce harnesses her characteristic insight, forensic eye and deeply-woven music to deeply moving ends.
As the book unfolds, it becomes clear that her other subjects (of family, travel, history and ageing) all orbit the gravitational centre of The M Pages. This is a important book about what – for reasons of propriety, self-censorship, fear and the limits of our knowledge – we can and cannot say about one of the most profound events we can face. Colette Bryce was born in Derry in 1970. After studying in England, she settled in London for some years where she received an Eric Gregory Award in 1995 and won the National Poetry Competition in 2003. She has published four poetry collections with Picador, most recently The Whole & Rain-domed Universe (2014), recipient of a Christopher Ewart-Biggs Award in memory of Seamus Heaney. She has held literary fellowships at various universities in the UK, Ireland and the US, and currently lives in Newcastle upon Tyne where she works as a freelance writer and editor. She received a Cholmondeley Award for poetry in 2010. Her Selected Poems was shortlisted for the Poetry Pigott Prize in association with Listowel Writers' Week. She was selected as one of Val McDermid's ten most exciting LGBTQI+ writers in the UK in association with the British Council in 2019. A stirring poetry collection exploring family and grief from Colette Bryce, one of the most exciting Irish poets at work today.
