God Forbid They Hear Us Laughing: New and Selected Poems by Bobby Parker Eric Selland cinematic scenes of kidnap and

cinematic scenes of kidnap and release

Poets from Lord Byron to John Berryman and from Emily Dickinson to Elizabeth Bishop are depicted in the throes of (often reluctant) exercise and their poetic styles satirised

‘We speak of "the poet’s voice"

This suggests the versatility with which he remakes his own art

Kristján Norge

God Forbid They Hear Us Laughing: New and Selected Poems by Bobby Parker Eric Selland cinematic scenes of kidnap andGod Forbid They Hear Us Laughing by Bobby Parker is a savage, tender selection that holds fatherhood and addiction, love and shame, sex and violence in the same shaking hands. These poems move through council estates, underpasses, chip shops, pubs, pharmacies, church tents and school corridors with a voice that is brazenly funny and abruptly devastating, switching from punchline to prayer in a breath. Parker's work is stocked with the lived textures