'The HIGH FLIGHT'
This collection takes its creative inspiration from one of the few details known about Emily Brontë. It is believed she rescued then kept a Merlin hawk who she called Nero. Her bird of prey soars through history and the West Yorkshire landscape both quarry and predator. Conally-Barklem explores what it means to be captive and to be wild, the condition of the falconer, its lore and mystery through the enigmatic Brontë sister who stands both inside and outside of time.
Black Cat Poetry Press Established in 2021, Black Cat Poetry Press are a small independent press who publish first collections, pamphlets and anthologies.
‘Magnificently imagined and rendered’
‘Conally-Barklem slices phrases from the ether and digs deep in the recalcitrant soil, while two imperious creatures circle above, casting baleful glances at the world.
By turns mythic, soaring, earthbound and unyielding, this collection is a dazzling addition to the Brontë canon.’
Karen Powell, author of Fifteen Wild Decembers
‘A truly astonishing collection bristling with piercing insight and originality- this is Conally-Barklem at the height of her powers’
Sharon Wright, journalist and Brontë biographer
Conally-Barklem’s poetry is radiant. She is one of the most interesting British poets working today’
Graham Watson, author of The Invention of Charlotte Brontë
‘These are poems of great emotional power and range, examining Emily Brontë from quite a different perspective. In a flood of ornithological and hawk lore, infused with the history and atmosphere of the Haworth Parsonage and a poet’s insight, Emma Conally-Barklem inhabits the moors and wild outdoors of her progenitor, elbow to elbow with her, and uses her own
extraordinary talent to explore this world, but also to meditate on mortality. This is an astonishing collection worthy to stand alongside the writings of the Brontës. I am in awe’
James Nash, poet and writer
‘Brilliant poems, rich and lush with detail and atmosphere’
Rachel Bower, poet and novelist