Slide

"Mark Pajak's skillful poems keep themselves open, especially to childhood and adolescent experience. Even so, they are far from frail - their insight and imaginative verve make them robust as well as eloquent. -- Carol Ann Duffy In this chilling and tense collection, Mark Pajak takes us with him into the nettles, out on the dark country lane, to the dilapidated shed - holding us with his acute precision of imagery - so we become all too aware of that ""long squeal"" of violence under the poem's ""fluttery lid"". A visceral and vital debut. -- Andrew McMillan I was stunned by these poems. Fresh, urgent, alive, awake, with such a strong visceral impact I couldn't sleep. Mark Pajak offers a high-res lens through which we share his vision of the suffering of children and animals. There is a fierce intelligence at play here, emotional, physical and cerebral. The combination is genius. -- Patience Agbabi Hands down a knockout debut, Slide isn't messing around. The poems have a live buzz and hum about them - everything is working to such precise and intense ends. -- Paul Farley Pajak's poetry is extreme, its subjects often united with elements and seasons... his stories' endings haunt the hearer like the close of a dark, irresistible song. -- Alison Brackenbury"