Dog Days

These poems act like short, sharp surprises. They can be oblique and then unravel with raw clarity, a strong and emotional openness pervading their deceptively simple structures. Coggin’s strange and singular voice is recognisably English and even colloquial, but with a sophistication and love of imagery, even mystery. This is her first collection, and showcases not only her range but her unique relationship with memory, her presence in each poem more breathlike than embodied, and no less substantial for that.