Can of Worms

Written daily throughout the UK's COVID-19 regulatory restrictions, Paul Cookson's new collection picks up directly from his first volume, Fighting Talk. These poems document the period of July to mid-October 2020 - from the pubs re-opening through to the introduction of the 'Three-Tier System'. Compassionate, humorous, political and principled, here is another extraordinary collection for extraordinary times and a continuing discourse on the mood of a nation. "Paul Cookson is on the ball with poetry and life in the here and now. These trying times need poets to help us find a compass. This book is a must." - Michael Rosen "Paul's poetry gives voice to all the things that scare us and all the things that lift us, and everything in between. When we look back at 2020/21 and think what was all that about? his work will help us to remember and to see how far we've come." - Rev. Kate Bottley "A sublime collection of instinctive and honest poems that will undoubtedly serve as a poignant and definitive record of a challenging, turbulent year." - Badly Drawn Boy