Weaver in the Sluices (Selected Poems)

4.3/5 ( ratings)

"Daniel Staniforth’s book of poems Weaver in the Sluices is an intermixing of zones where the light of the waking body rises and transmixes its power with falling uranian whispers. These poems exist at the cusp where both realities overspill and condense, making fleeting forays into the unsayable." — Will Alexander, author of The Sri Lankan Loxodrome and Above the Human Nerve Domain

"In Weaver in the Sluices, Daniel Staniforth pulls variously from Bardic
tradition, contemporary lament, and surrealist landscapes to “filter the
nutrients of thought.” The poet invokes erotic passion and political protest alike, all while navigating the “midriff of the sun,” “star-widths of fancy,” and the “nape of the sea.” In these poems, such wonders shift continually between foreground and background to portray a world where, ultimately, “the hollows subsume the shape.” — Elizabeth Robinson, author of Inaudible Trumpeters and The Orphan & its Relations

"Composer and musical producer as well as poet, what strikes me most profoundly about Staniforth's work is his training as a musical instrument luthier, a skill as sensitive as it is intuitive. For it is this sensitivity and intuition, this fine-tuning, that is most uniquely present in Weaver in the Sluices. These poems spring resonant from the page. It is especially in the imagery of the longer pieces that the poet's originality shines. A book to be savoured!"
— Margaret Randall, author of Stones Witness and Ruins

"There is a strong current of Englishness weaving through Daniel's work and a deep connection with natural magic and the soul of the land, but it is diverse enough to take in the bleak and the gritty as well as his finely crafted dreamworlds."
— Rebecca Wilby, author of In Different Skies and This Wretched Splendour