A Book of Songs by Chris Athorne | Poetry Salzburg Pamphlet Series 43
Poetry Salzburg
"When I accepted one of Chris Athorne's poems for publication in Into Poetry, I noted in a commentary that its tone was both celebratory and melancholic. Seeing a wider selection of Athorne's work in A Book of Songs, published by Poetry Salzburg, I find more celebration than melancholy in his poetry. At its best it achieves a pure music. One senses behind the lyricism a powerful intellect momentarily suspending its analytical rigour so that the poet, and his readers, may 'savour / the sensual moment / of being in time'." — David Cameron
"There is such beauty in these poems as they evoke music the reader can sense; hours that not only mark time but reveal the intricacies of how we live with loss, pain, unravelling and what it is to be a body; songs that ache with tenderness, love and loss and an epithalamion that pulses with memory to conclude 'In dissonance or harmony, /in discourse or dissent; whatever sounds, /allow it. Music survives.' The language is supple and innovative with constant surprises that soar like the music often referenced, but there are no gimmicks here. Rather we are immersed in a life we can recognise so that we emerge seeing the world differently, resonating deeply with the highs and lows and sharing the 'fear of hope'. An exquisite lyric collection." — Jan Fortune
"Over four sequences, Athorne's A Book of Songs considers faith and worship in sensuous and exacting poems that conjure old songs of remembrance and forgetting. Here are elegies for composers, daily prayers, and celebrations of marriage, all composed with gentleness and wonder. These are poems as records of the sounds we live our lives by. It is an elegant and moving body of work." — John Challis
Most of Chris Athorne's published work is in mathematics but poetry has been important to him throughout his life. Recent work has appeared in Acumen, MAGMA, Poetry Scotland, and The Ekphrastic Review, as well as in the anthologies Apocalyptic Landscape: Poems from the Expressionist Poetry Workshop (Valley Press, 2024) and Lines of Communication (The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press, 2025). A Book of Songs is his first pamphlet. It draws on his experiences of singing, referring to the sacred, Lieder and Art Song traditions. He enjoys running, dancing the tango, drawing, playing the piano, and fine wine. He lives in Glasgow with his partner, Oonagh.
MEMBERS ENJOY 25% OFF ALL POETRY BOOKS
Join the Poetry Book Society for 25% off all books
Join the Poetry Book Society for 25% off all books