A Poetry Book Society Recommendation Spring 2025

Dane Holt’s subject is often the aftermath of tragedy – ecological, personal or social – but these poems grieve in surprising ways. Deflection, displacement and refracted voices combine to animate a world of brilliantly realised situations. And Holt’s characters, though always articulate, do not precisely comprehend their own relation to what they inherit. Compelling, funny, endlessly inventive, this bold debut collection explores the formation and disillusion of masculinity and community, exposing just how tender and brittle these constructs are.