Once I sink my teeth in, I have to nurse myself into letting go

I feed the ugliest pigeon in Midland Park because what does it say about my humanity if I don’t? Why do 10-year-olds have to run cross country? What choice do I have? When is love staying, and when isn’t it? At what age does a lamb become a sheep? Do you like it like that? Is it enough? How will I ever know if I’m doing it right? What if I don’t know it when I see it?

Francis Aschoff’s debut poetry collection is a time machine trip from the heights of first love to the yellow days of infancy, from crying in club bathrooms to a future not yet known. These poems are a magnifying glass, a tender eye and a flame thrower. They are love poems to the difficulties of love – love that is absent or which can’t be felt even when it’s there. Spellbound zings with surprising images that will make you see, and feel, differently.