Bloofer
Released 31 May, 2023 66 pages // 978-1-915760-10-4 // RRP £9.50 Buy here. Bloofer by Cathleen Allyn Conway is an intoxicating mix of the playful macabre and elements of dark academia. Conway’s illicit obsessions creep through like the full moon on a cloudy night: Bram Stoker, Plath in thrall to the occult, dark alleyways and haunted libraries. Bloofer hides razorblades between the pages that give a keen edge to this thrilling and mischievous collection of poems that disarm you with humour before they bite you. |
PRAISE for Bloofer:
An act of devotion, resurrection and rescue, Bloofer is a significant achievement. These poems combine lyrical, incantatory phrasing with startlingly powerful visual qualities, all unified by a dedication to collage and radical technique. Conway has a remarkable ear for the effective phrase, the click and satisfaction when something modulates into a surprising and oddly apposite conclusion. Provocative, haunting and ultimately empowering. — Luke Kennard, Notes on the Sonnets Bloofer is a queen-sized, blood-dripping, free-falling collection for creepy girls that holds flaming torches and pitchforks up to interrogate the entangled imagery of vamp and heroine. Conway dissects and reanimates gothic film and literature in a way that is both sensual and macabre, magical and grounding. This is not only a collection to sink your teeth into – it is also one that will bite back. — E.P. Jenkins, Rituals |