How the hell are you

A new collection from Glyn Maxwell - one of the great poetic stylists of the era, and one of its leading dramatic voices - is always a cause for celebration. Here, there are squibs and satires, lyrics and songs, poems written to family members and in memory of loved ones, a series of poems written by an artificial intelligence that will thrill and disturb in equal measure, and a chance for the blank page to finally speak for itself. But How The Hell Are You is, in its way, also a quietly political book: Maxwell regards poetry as truth-telling, and these poems - in their intimate, unsparing accounts and clear-eyed reckonings - recoil from the lies and fake news of the age to actually 'tell it like it is'. How The Hell Are You shows a remarkable imagination and mind working at full tilt, and is the most powerful expression of Maxwell's talent to date.