Peter Blair (Editor), Elements: Poems from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2007

An anthology of new poems entered for the Cheshire Prize for Literature competition in 2007. It contains poems by 15 short-listed entrants, including the eventual prizewinners.

From the chemical composition of salt to the influence of the stars, this collection explores the things that make us what we are. Moments are excavated and preserved, the deep archaeology of life revealed: the accretions of history, the well-springs of wonder. The poets attempt to see into the lives of an extraordinary diversity of others from suburban rain-dancers to Turkish sword-swallowers, from soaring kestrels to stranded seals, from soldiers to snowdrops. In rich and surprising ways, the poems that make up this collection explore the elements of our world.