The Memory Tray

Deryn Rees-Jones' lively debut collection explores issues of gender and identity, memory and desire, through witty juxtapositions of character, plot and theme. Formative poems resound with magical imagery, as in 'The Great Mutando' and recapture the dream-states of childhood where 'Grandma in the Garden' appears, not as a homely matriarch, but as a terrifying figure with "one wild Modigliani eye hooking the clouds". Other poems focus on love, from initial erotic frisson to break up and "the strange geographies of hurt". Also included are ambitious, various monologues like 'Lovesong to Captain James T. Kirk' and the provocative 'Metamorphoses' featuring a transvestite who dreams of being Marilyn Monroe. "Deryn Rees-Jones proves herself to be a fascinating and compelling poet. There are two main strengths to this poetry, which endlessly repays attention by providing fresh nuances of seeing: the ability of Deryn Rees-Jones to manage a wide emotional range, and her fluidity of meaning." Critical Quarterly "Rees-Jones is a joy to read because she stands for life" Orbis Deryn Rees-Jones was educated at the University of Wales, Bangor, and Birkbeck College, London. She is an Eric Gregory Award winner, and The Memory Tray was shortlisted for a Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. In 1996 she received an Arts Council of England Writer's Award. She lives in Liverpool, where she lectures at the University of Liverpool.