There is (still) Love Here
There is (still) love here, the compelling new collection of poetry by Dean Atta, is a personal and powerful exploration of relationships, love and loss, encompassing LGBTQ+ and Black history, Greek Cypriot heritage, pride and identity, dislocation and belonging.
Atta’s tender, precisely-crafted and generous poems seek consolation and affirmation. These are poems as an antidote for challenging times, whether facing prejudice or the challenges of the pandemic, experiencing grief or recovering from heartbreak. Here, we encounter blue feelings and homesickness, things lost in translation and the pressures of the many roles we play in life. We also find the recipes of home, gifts and giving, the togetherness of community and connection to help us to heal. There is still love here - and journeys towards forgiveness, acceptance, queer joy and the power to unapologetically be yourself and fully embrace who you are.
Praise for There is (still) love here:
“These are direct, moving and passionate poems: Dean is a wonderful poet, who knows the weight and balance of each well chosen word." – Andrew McMillan
“Dean Atta is a poet of the finest order, a most tender, passionate and powerful voice, a light in the twenty-first century” - Salena Godden
“Dean Atta’s There is (still) love here is filled with vulnerability and tenderness. It’s so openhearted and life-affirming. Whether he’s addressing his Greek Cypriot and Jamaican heritage, the LGBTQ+ experience, or any other subject that catches his eye, this book brims with agape – big love. These poems are a big yes to humanity and our survival.” – Pascale Petit
“These tender poems explore familial and romantic relationships with disarming frankness. Atta’s close attention to the ephemeral yields a navigation of the multiple identities he straddles, and ask important questions about race, manhood, queer identity, sexuality, and loss. Absence is a recurrent bassline underscoring Atta’s narratives, which plunder his social and cultural inner sanctum in the quest to reconcile fragility, vulnerability, and acceptance.” – Malika Booker
Publication date: 8th September 2022
Format: Paperback
Extent: 72pp
DCF: Poetry Collections
Cover artwork by Sanna Räsänen