Luke Kennard (United Kingdom)

Poet and writer of fiction who was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1981 and grew up in Luton. He won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2005 and his first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published later that year by Stride. His second collection The Harbour Beyond the Movie was published by Salt in 2007 and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, making him the youngest writer ever to be shortlisted. His most recent collection A Lost Expression was released in 2012 alongside an experimental short story, Holophin which won the Saboteur Novella award that year. His fiction and poetry criticism has appeared in Poetry London, the Times Literary Supplement and The National. He has a PhD in English from the University of Exeter and lectures at the University of Birmingham. His work has been translated into German, Spanish and Mandarin. In 2014 he was named one of the Next Generation Poets by the Poetry Book Society in their once per-decade list. His fifth collection of poems, Cain, is due from Penned in the Margins in the summer and his first novel, The Transition, will be published by 4th Estate in 2017.

 

Chorus
 
The choir hadn’t left him alone since the first day of summer;
He awoke to find them stationed around his bed.
One day the choir arrived without warning or explanation,
Sang the choir in four-part harmony, handing him toast.
On his first day back at work, the choir stood at his desk,
Singing, The choir are making his professional life impossible.
Two weeks later his partner left him for an osteopath.
Hannah cannot stand the choir any longer, they sang.
That night he pummelled the choristers with his fists;
He beats the choir in frustration, but though they are bruised
And bleeding at the lip, they sing with redoubled vigour, sang the choir.
Then they sang, He cannot get to sleep, he cannot get to sleep,
He cannot get to sleep, in perfect fifths, until he fell asleep.
In time you may even grow fond of us, they sang, quietly.