Towards a General Theory of Love

There is a quiet, cool, authentic voice to the poems of Flood. A flood that destroyed Clare Shaw’s home town, mental illness, self-injury, the end of a relationship, are all experiences recounted with factual detachment… There is a sense that the poet’s most intimate surroundings have betrayed her, but the stillness and control with which Shaw writes reveal quiet layers of intensity drawn from unstable places. -- Carla-Rosa Manfredino * Times Literary Supplement, on Flood *
Caught directly in the deluge’s rising tide, Shaw is a witness who gives incantatory evidence of poetry’s power to define, rather than simply describe, the existential pain of being caught helpless in maelstroms both external and psychological. -- Steve Whitaker * The Yorkshire Times, on Flood *
Hold your breath when you read Clare Shaw’s poems. Startling, searing, scorching, this is an emotional blast of a book. -- Jackie Kay * on Straight Ahead *