Liz Berry reads Birmingham Roller from Black Country

To celebrate World Poetry Day we have a gift for you. The magical Liz Berry reads her poem, Birmingham Roller, taken from her award-winning collection Black Country. Some poets can bring so much to their own work by reading it themselves. Liz Berry is certainly one of them. Enjoy.
Read and listen to more of Liz's potery here: www.penguin.co...
WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2014
PBS Recommendation 2014
‘When I became a bird, Lord, nothing could not stop me…’
In Black Country, Liz Berry takes flight: to Wrens Nest, Gosty Hill, Tipton-on-Cut; to the places of home. The poems move from the magic of childhood - bostin fittle at Nanny’s, summers before school - into deeper, darker territory: sensual love, enchanted weddings, and the promise of new life.
In Berry’s hands, the ordinary is transformed: her characters shift shapes, her eye is unusual, her ear attuned to the sounds of the Black Country, with ‘vowels ferrous as nails, consonants / you could lick the coal from.’ Ablaze with energy and full of the rich dialect of the West Midlands, this is an incandescent debut from a poet of dazzling talent and verve.
Read more at www.penguin.co...