Distilling the transplant journey

the heart is an organ of perception, one of the body’s brains as well as an image of romantic love, joy and despair. Setting out to explore ‘the flesh and blood of the organ’ in this journey of a transplant, Jacqueline Haskell excavates the metaphor with extraordinary intelligence and skill.

Moving from science to the heart as an organ of memory, passion and so much more, the poetry in this collection is inventive and perspective-shifting, layering fact and emotion, folklore and ritual, mortality and life. Fascinating and deeply moving, Takotsubo is a compelling collection made all the ore so by its precision and suppleness of language.