Following the substantial critical acclaim for Academe, his previous volume, Paul Groves has produced a book which surpasses even that high standard.
Its contents, whose alternating rhyme and free verse lengths are balanced precisely, explore the human condition with disarming honesty. The subjects range from the suburban to the exotic and include a nervous job applicant, a chorus line of Eskimo girls, a tactless dinner guest, and a blow-up doll of Marilyn Monroe. The author's stylistic elegance and technical flair result in a poetry that, though subtle and exact, is marvellously accessible. Ménage à Trois is an adroit, entertaining collection by one of the most talented poets writing in Britain today.
"At his best, Groves can be compelling or funny, and he is adept at underscoring conventional full-rhyming stanzas with a deadpan diction."
Conor O'Callaghan, Times Literary Supplement
"Paul Groves uses language as a brilliantly polished tool, a way to be vigorous or persuasive or shocking."
Orbis
"Groves's poetry is utterly readable – and I can recommend it to those who like their satires of circumstances neat, sourly humorous and with a dash of machismo."
Thumbscrew
Paul Groves was brought up in Wales, to which he has returned after living for twenty-five years in the Forest of Dean. He has been strikingly successful in national and international competitions and has published poetry and criticism in a wide range of periodicals, including The London Magazine, Poetry Review and The Times Literary Supplement. He lives in Monmouth.
- ISBN10 1854111477
- ISBN13 9781854111470
- Publish Date 15 November 1995
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 September 2024
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Poetry Wales Press
- Imprint Seren
- Format Paperback
- Pages 64
- Language English