Terrestrial Things, by Ingrid de Kok

Ingrid de Kok is probably the most lucid and composed voice in contemporary South African English poetry. Terrestrial Things is her third collection of poems. In it she brings her art to the great dramas of our time: the burden of tragedy revealed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings and the ceaseless ravaging of the AIDS pandemic. Two other sections of the work provide wider perspectives: one focuses on the formative family bonds and the landscapes of childhood; the other brings her love of Italy to life.

A work of great courage, this collection grants us the possibility of sustaining the emotional freight of our place and time without breakdown. Anchored in the personal life its dark central vision is framed and steadied by the resources of poetry in the hands of a fine and mature talent.

'... an unfailing ear for the alternation of consonants on the tongue, a turn o thinking and the ability to capture in the most delicate and individual tems devastating phenomena.' — Antjie Krog on Transfer