In a new pamphlet, published by Mariscat Press (2023), Blake Morrison writes: ‘Between June and September 2021, I wrote this series of poems about my sister, who had died at the age of 67 two years previously… SKIN & BLISTER – Cockney rhyming slang for sister – seemed a good title for the poems: our relationship was intimate but also painful.’
It’s only me, you’d say, leaving a voicemail,
as though you didn’t really matter
or were, to me, a minor character:
how much does a sister count, after all?
The question’s more poignant now our discourse
has stopped and I’m looking for the source of
your sadly low opinion of yourself
which you only got the better of with booze.
Extract from Sister/Sonnet 1
The publication of this collection coincides with Blake’s new memoir: Two Sisters. More information HERE
To buy Skin and Blister, go to the Mariscat Press website: ORDER HERE