Signs and Humours

"Signs and Humours brings together 100 poems written over the last 2,000 years to show how one of the most basic human concerns, the body, has continued to fascinate and agitate poets. Their preoccupations are brought right up to date in 22 specially commissioned poems, the result of discussions with leading doctors and scientists about contemporary biomedical practice, which include deliberations on the pathologies of our time, from autism and infertility to pancreatitis and post-traumatic stress disorder. Whether it's Horace complaining about garlic playing havoc with his digestive system, Grey Gowrie recovering from a heart transplant of Jo Shapcott demonstrating a lack of latent inhibition, this anthology explores the questions that arise when we are forced to stop and consider our physical selves. How do we work, why do we go wrong, what do we mean when we say 'How are you?' or 'It hurts'? Does a greater objective knowledge of medical cause and effect change our internalised view of ourselves? And how do poetic language and form reflect this change?"--Page 4 of cover.