{"product_id":"rhizodont-9781780377131","title":"Rhizodont","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAgainst a backdrop of vast geological time and recent fossil-fuel burning history, the poems of Katrina Porteous's latest collection address current issues of social and environmental change. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e330 million years ago what is now the rocky shore close to Katrina \u003cbr\u003ePorteous's Northumberland home in the north of England was a tropical swamp inhabited by \u003cbr\u003ethree-metre long predatory fish with huge tusk-like teeth. They belonged\u003cbr\u003e to a family of lobe-finned fishes which evolved to move on land as well\u003cbr\u003e as swim, and which are the ancestors of all four-limbed vertebrates, \u003cbr\u003eincluding humans. The fossil fish found in Northumberland is called the \u003cbr\u003e'rhizodont'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ePorteous's new collection begins with a lovingly-observed contemporary \u003cbr\u003ejourney through these ancient landscapes, from the former coal-mining \u003cbr\u003ecommunities of the Durham coast, where the coal-bearing Carboniferous \u003cbr\u003estrata are overlain with younger rocks, to the Northumberland shores \u003cbr\u003ewhere the rhizodont's remains were found. Against a backdrop of vast \u003cbr\u003egeological time and recent fossil-fuel burning history, these poems \u003cbr\u003eaddress current issues of social and environmental change. They are \u003cbr\u003efollowed by two sequences about aspects of the latest technological \u003cbr\u003erevolution - autonomous systems and AI, and the remote-sensing \u003cbr\u003etechniques used to explore the most inaccessible reaches of our planet, \u003cbr\u003eAntarctica, to measure Earth's changing climate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tThe poems unfold from England's North-East coast into global questions \u003cbr\u003eof evolution, survival and extinction - in communities and languages, \u003cbr\u003eand throughout the natural world, where hope resides in Life's \u003cbr\u003eastonishing powers of reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\t\u003cem\u003eRhizodont \u003c\/em\u003eis Katrina Porteous's fourth poetry collection from \u003cbr\u003eBloodaxe, and extends territory explored in her three previous books. It\u003cbr\u003e combines scientific themes from \u003cem\u003eEdge\u003c\/em\u003e (2019) with the ecological localism of \u003cem\u003eTwo Countries\u003c\/em\u003e (2014) and \u003cem\u003eThe Lost Music\u003c\/em\u003e (1996), both of which were concerned with the landscapes and communities of North-East England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKatrina Porteous \u003c\/b\u003ehas lived on the Northumberland coast since 1987. Many of the poems in her first collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Music\u003c\/i\u003e (1996), explore the Northumbrian fishing community. Her second full-length collection from Bloodaxe, \u003ci\u003eTwo Countries\u003c\/i\u003e (2014), was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature in 2015. Her third full-length collection, \u003ci\u003eEdge\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 2019), draws on collaborations commissioned for performance in Life Science Centre Planetarium, Newcastle, between 2013 and 2016, with multi-channel electronic music by Peter Zinovieff. Her fourth is \u003ci\u003eRhizondont \u003c\/i\u003e(2024). She has worked on many collaborations with other artists, often performs with musicians, and is particularly known for her radio-poetry broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloodaxe Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50929046618386,"sku":"9781780377131","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6a66b3d1-79e4-4647-82ac-cfec54f697a2.jpg?v=1739029778","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/rhizodont-9781780377131","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}