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‘Since 2013, Claire Dyer has published four poetry collections with Two Rivers Press, and her latest, The Adjustments, may be her finest yet… While [it] has plenty of the kind of poised and thoughtful lyric poems that appeal to the general reader, it is also dotted with experimental intricacies that will be a little dose of catnip for readers of adventurous, avant-garde poetry. This range and combination of interests makes for a collection that is likely to have wide appeal… Dyer, who is also a novelist, is steadily building a superb body of work as a poet. These skilful, carefully worked poems are exemplary acts of witnessing (of memories, relationships, and the phenomena of the physical world), and the book is a powerful inquiry into how we might come to terms with inescapable losses and separations.’ — Michael Loveday, in The High Window
‘There is so much to recommend in this collection from its wide range of styles and arresting language to the way it draws you in with its intimacy and accessibility. There are surprises too with unapologetic line breaks, surrealism, poignancy, the deep connection with the natural world… Here is a poet whose experience and craft shine through. Dyer says what many of us may be thinking and feeling as we navigate our lives and consider what our life is all about and how to deal with loss and disappointment. She offers us comfort and confusion, light and darkness, suggesting that when we ‘hit the earth, the world will split in two’ — Pat Edwards in London Grip
‘There is an experimental spirit at play in this collection – there are versions and mirrors of several poems, as if they refuse to be fixed to the page. … There’s so much to savour and enjoy in The Adjustments, from the broad humour of The day I went swimming with Theresa May, to the luminous magic of Flare, about a 91-year-old’s return to the sea. But the real power of these poems is in their poise and grace, and in the dazzling interplay between them. It’s a collection as unexpectedly moving, disturbing and hopeful as our own thoughts and inner lives.’ — Christopher James
‘The Adjustments by Claire Dyer is a moving collection of poems which deal sensitively with the spectrum of female roles: mother, daughter, sister and wife, accentuating the deep emotions connected with loss and love. Her poems are exquisitely crafted using many different forms with intertextual nods to the poets Mary Oliver and Louis McNiece and the nature writer Richard Jeffries.’ — Denise Bennett, South, September 2024
‘Claire Dyer pulls together all the untidy threads of what it means to love in this glorious collection of poems. Her words about facing the loss of a parent resonated hugely, the push-pull of emotions, the desire to both keep and release. In particular, I loved the backdrop of nature to so many of the poems, the sense that the seasons keep turning, while our worlds stand still as we struggle with the enormity of our grief. But above all, she drills down into the fragility of humans – our hopes, our wishes, our fears and flaws – with a laser-like precision that made my heart reverberate with recognition.’ — Kerry Fisher, author of ‘The Woman I was Before’
‘Read The Adjustments start to finish in one go then finish to start. And again. Several times. I’ve loved all of Claire’s collections but this one feels really special. So thought-provoking, deeply philosophical, cleverly but subtly structured, full of the most beautiful and original images. To say I am beguiled is an understatement!’ — Susan Utting
‘Claire Dyer’s poems are a revelation. Balancing between light and shade, vulnerability and agency, her imagination travels far from the ordinary, but the poems are always grounded in acute observation and compassionate understanding. I wanted to stay between the pages of this marvellous collection.’ — Alex Josephy
In The Adjustments, Claire Dyer’s fourth collection with Two Rivers Press, the poet explores the vagaries of time and experience. As a narrative in reverse, her book scrutinises the fine tunings of life – from what’s expected to what happens – and the associated search for equilibrium in a world that’s constantly changing.
Covering the main themes of loss, gain, identity and relationships, the poems travel backwards from the challenges of later life to the hopes and fears of youth, and act as testament and interrogation, laying bare the quest for and acceptance of the adjustments we make and that ultimately define us.
Claire Dyer. Paperback, 210 x 135 mm, 104 pages, April 2024.
About the author: Claire Dyer holds a BA in English & History from the University of Birmingham, an MA in Victorian Literature & Culture from the University of Reading, and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of five novels and lives in Reading, Berkshire. The Adjustments is her fourth collection.
Praise for Yield:
‘Claire Dyer’s deft use of form comes into its own in the understated poems of Yield, at once lyrical, subtle, oblique, risky, suggestive and heart-wrenching’ — Rosie Jackson in The High Window
Cover image: pastel portrait study by Christopher Alexander, ARE, ARCA (1926 -1982) used with kind permission of his family.
Also by Claire Dyer:
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