Poetry Launch: Tracey Rhys and Christina Thatcher

 

Christina Thatcher’s exceptional third poetry collection, Breaking a Mare, is an investigation of silence, goodness and girlhood. It invites readers into the barn, the sawdust mill, the rodeo arena. These poems expose the hard work women do on farms, the loss of rural landscapes and the role death can play in these spaces. They ask what it means to be good in the face of physical, emotional and ecological threat. Ultimately, these poems want to know what breaks us and what makes us stronger.

‘Sleek, savvy, scrupulous. This book is a triumph.’ – Abigail Parry 

Tracey Rhys’ captivating debut has two strong leading ladies: Bathsheba and Flood. Bathing on the Roof reclaims the Biblical Bathsheba as an everywoman of the ages, creating a collage of female experience in all its sensual complexity. Whether arriving in the Garden of Eden, giving birth, or shopping in Beverley Hills, Bathsheba negotiates the edgy boundaries of her relationships with men while navigating the confines of her body. Act-of-God-turned-celebrity diva, Flood likes to make an impression. She wakes up on the wrong side of bed, makes a Severn Bridge of herself, parties with lightning, and drowns far more than she means to. Explored through the lens of the media and fame, these poems imagine how Mother Nature might respond to humanity’s interference, were she as flawed and determined as humanity itself. 

‘Tracey Rhys conjures a myriad of voices... the most prevalent voice, however, is Rhys’ own – considered and astute as she asks, “where is the flow if not inside me?”.’ – Mari Ellis Dunning

Christina Thatcher grew up between a farm and a ranch house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She won a Marshall Scholarship to undertake two MAs in the UK, after which she completed a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at Cardiff University, where she is now a lecturer. She has two previous poetry collections with Parthian Books: More than you were (2017) and How to Carry Fire (2020). 

Tracey Rhys is a Bridgend-based writer, originally from the Rhondda. Listed for various competitions including the Cinnamon Press Pamphlet Competition, Poetry Wales Pamphlet Competition and Cardiff International Poetry Competition, her first pamphlet Teaching a Bird to Sing was a judge’s favourite in the Michael Marks Award. In 2020, she was a winner in the Poetry Archive’s Now: Wordview competition.