The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside
Poetry Book Society Recommendation Autumn 2025
Anna Gurton-Wachter Simply click 'Give a Membership'

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surprising language and very strong thought – which may be bitter

They reveal the poet at the height of her creative powers

religion and family

The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside<br><b>Poetry Book Society Recommendation Autumn 2025</b><br> Anna Gurton-Wachter Simply click 'Give a Membership'John Burnside's last collection of new poems gathers around a single theme "mortality "and draws on his faltering health and earlier glances with death, creating a powerfully moving exploration of memory, forgetting and the seven ages. Here, as always, there is a clear eyed curiosity; a sense of wonder at the beleaguered natural world and its endless mutability "its hidden beauty, often suddenly disclosed "and a deep faith in its old gods. Burnside