Grey Time

Poetry of love, loss, and "universal relevance" in the fourth collection by Forwrd Prize commended poet

To live is to lose, to grieve is to be human. Part elegy, part lament, part love song; Webb’s fourth collection Grey Time is a powerful examination of what it is to love and lose, of our relationship with both grief and the dead. Exploring the many facets and nuances of grief and loss, Webb explores what happens before and after the sudden death of a loved one (Lover, brother mother, friend) and how our relationship with the dead changes over time as new secrets are revealed and old hurts healed over.

However, loss here is not confined to death – we each experience myriad losses over the course of a lifetime, and this refreshing and moving set of poems is both exploration and witness – what is said/not said, how people behave under duress. Webb turns her forensic eye on the complexity of those unresolved relationships as well as her own recently discovered neurodivergence, and how violence can creep into our lives. Webb is not afraid to take bold leaps of the imagination and straightforward narratives jostle up against more surreal pieces – a dead mother turns owl; a mother teaches her son how to fly.