Ten Poems from Norfolk - Helen Ivory | Martin Figura

It’s easy to imagine Norfolk as just wide skies and long flat horizons. This lively selection of poems shows that there’s plenty more to discover in this very easterly corner of Britain.

There’s a paean to the region’s distinctive pale flint with its “black, cracked-open heart” together with a reminder of “the sunken trees of Doggerland” now lost to the waters. We also explore the county’s history as a centre for the textile industry, meeting the “throwsterers, twisterers and wool-combers” who came over from the Low Countries. Norfolk is a place people long to return to – whether by crossing land or sea:

“Who amongst us has never been a stranger
at some shore, like a hopeful little boat.
How does anyone end up anywhere?”

from ‘Cloth’ by Martin Figura

The anthology captures Norfolk as a place of echoes and deep history whose wild beauty never forgets the tang of the sea.

Poems by Moniza Alvi, Camilla Doyle, Martin Figura, Jen Hadfield, Matt Howard, Helen Ivory, John Kett, Andrew McDonnell, Esther Morgan and George Szirtes.

Cover illustration by Louise Stebbing.