Recital - An Almanac

Glimpses of inspiration from Larkin, Cummings and Neruda inform the poetry here, but Siddique’s own voice takes those ways of looking at the world and sets out stories of who we are right now in the 21st century.

As John Siddique reminds us in his extraordinary new collection, life unfolds whether or not we choose to participate in the ‘future histories’ being created at every moment. The poems in this book form a literary chronograph for survival, echoing life’s ticking clock while inviting us to stop and observe the moments before they pass. 

‘On love, loss and hope, these poems are imbued with a beautiful, tender melancholia'.   
Bernadine Evaristo – Booker Prize Winner

'The book’s two related purposes are conveyed in its title. As a recital, these poems masterfully name and celebrate the glorious panorama of intimate yet communal subjects and objects that infuse experience with meaning—a classic role for poetry rendered utterly new in these pages.  As an almanac, the poems meticulously catalogue relationships, events, natural phenomena and experiences into measured moments. In this irreplaceable collection, John Siddique creates a time-line for evaporating memories, observations and sensations, and reveals life’s potential to be a hidden gallery...Recital is one of the most important British poetry books of the last twenty years’

Professor Lauri Scheyer, California State University - Los Angeles

'Mythology and spirituality run through John Siddique's fourth poetry collection, Recital: An Almanac, which revolves around the lunar calendar. The collection contains thirteen poems marking the passing of each month and celebrating nature and the rhythms of life against war and violence. There is a beautifully balanced, tight piece of writing at the heart of the book: the haunting sequence "Inside". Consisting of four poems about London's 7/7 bombings, it describes the almost unreal moments on the bus, before and after the explosions, explores the mind of a suicide bomber, and leads up to the erroneous police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.'

Muneeza Shamsie - The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

‘John Siddique is an accomplished writer across several genres, but his fourth collection of poetry 'Recital: an Almanac' demonstrates his considerable range within this form has not lessened. Politically alert, he is also a gifted and adventurous love-poet bringing the Japanese art of bondage, Shibari, into Erato's northern court for surely the first time; an excellent nature poet, he writes equally well of childhood, friendship and loss. His work shows an international awareness enriched by an Islamic-Catholic heritage, which must account to some extent for the humour that sparkles through this marvellous book. Anyone interested in the fascinating cross-fertilisation of poetries now revitalising the literature of these islands must read it.’ Ian Duhig – Author of ‘The Lammas Hireling’

'Recital is the most astonishing and mature work of his career to date.'
Dr. Claire Chambers - Senior Lecturer in Global Literature, York University