Say Something Back & Time Lived, Without Its Flow

Praise

“[Riley’s] writing is perfectly weighted, justifies its existence. It is impossible not to want to ‘say something back’ to each of her poems in recognition of their outstanding quality. Her voice is strong and beautiful—an imperative in itself. But her subject is not strength—it is more that she is robust about frailty.” —Kate Kellaway, The Observer

“But if, most resonantly of all, you come to poetry to be moved, ‘A Part Song’, the 20-part exequy for the poet’s late son at the heart of [Say Something Back], is an astonishing, wrenching and sustained study of grief. This multifaceted piece is both a poem and a sequence, since each part stands alone but the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Like all major poetry of grief, it invites us to observe the act of witness, the process of trying to present an account.” —Fiona Sampson, The Guardian

“This book is without a scrap of sentimentality but provokes a deep emotional response: not from poignancy but in awe at the precision with which Riley records her grief. It is often too painful to read, but too valuable not to.” —John Self, The Guardian