The Barking Thing

Suzanne Batty writes bold, flamboyant, risky poems which come from left field and Manchester, mixing dogs and people, mean streets and threats from inside. In her first book-length collection, The Barking Thing, the real and unreal are deliberately confused. The book creates a fantastical landscape in which actual experience can be transformed through archetypes and fairytales, urban myths and nightmares. The poems chart a journey from mental anguish to spiritual joy – and back again. The writing balances on a sharp edge between sanity and madness, between meaning and insignificance, with a dark humour and a tight grip on life. And through it all there is the wisdom of dog – a spiritual mentor who cocks a leg at doubt and despair.