Smoothie

Debut poetry collection from critically-acclaimed writer for TV and radio (credits include Radio 4’s Home Front series). Charts wayward wanderings of a compelling cast of misfits struggling with a 21st-century state of disorientation. Smoothie evokes intimacy of Raymond Carver, surreal humour of Matthew Sweeney and candour of Emily Berry, while remaining disarmingly fresh in its blend of desire and dislocation. The voices of Smoothie are at once urgent and soulful, lonely and authentic.

A tender, exuberant and deliciously dark exploration of our desire to communicate, whatever the cost.Smoothie is Claudine Toutoungi’s debut collection of poems. It takes a tender, exuberant and deliciously dark look at our desire to be heard, whatever the cost; a desire that can be treacherous, comical and sometimes – often enough to fend off despair – fulfilled. Smoothie plots the wayward wanderings of a beguiling cast of misfits – hotel eavesdroppers, city interlopers, lone wolves, phantom bird-watchers, disaffected language robots and triumphant piano-swallowers – as they try to express themselves. The poems are candid without being confessional: the poet’s `I’ encompasses the reader. Language’s smooth surface bubbles up as Toutoungi’s characters reveal their peculiarly twenty-first-century disorientations, riffing off loneliness, authenticity and heartbreak as they go.