Books

Review by Steven C Davis

Teath is spiky, biting and all its own. In a poetry pamphlet about teeth, it is chomping. Incisor-ive.

There is a wonderful confidence to this work, a hard, glittering confidence. Style it Glitterpunk  or Glitterdark. It’s a collection unafraid to twist and subvert, to use joinwords when existing language doesn’t cover what’s needed. One of the first to be used – ‘fangcage’ is just so vibrant its surprising it’s not been used before.

Focusing on teeth and the (previous) wearing of a brace, Round makes an act that is part of the human condition (the removal of braces) into a magnificent body of work that snaps and oozes with teethsmile and, when raw, shybile.

There’s impressive imagery throughout – trying to shove antlers down the plughole and pufferfish face come to mind – and we know what Round means even though the phrases might not have been heard before.

Elements of the collection, ‘Brace yourselves’ and the joinwords mostfeared and sparkstruck hint at a cyberpunknoir edgy potential that Round could explore; ‘Merry Christmas’ takes a familiar scene, pulls it apart and reassesses it.

If you’re looking for soft and cuddly, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for poetry that struts down dark highways, fists wrapped in chains, is mightyfine and going through a secondhandhigh, this is the thing for you.