Fovea / Ages Ago
Who was that kid in the corner of your eye…?
29 April 2021
Paperback / 9781914221002
ebook / 9781914221064
84 pages
‘Rips the past out of its distinct casing and leaves its entrails on the page for inspection … illustrates how we make and unmake ourselves and each other.’
— Lola Olufemi, Poetry London
‘Lasoye’s isn’t a simple, sweet book. There are bones, knives, blades.’
— SPAM
The fovea centralis is a small depression in the retina that produces our sharpest vision. In this keenly perceptive chapbook, Sarah Lasoye ruminates on moments from the playground to the present day. Sitting across from her early memories, she begins to discern the watery contours of a primary self.
Through abstract and narrative poems, Lasoye’s temporal experiments open up a tender interior life and a need to anchor oneself in others. With no clean boundary between past and present, emergent preoccupations—with selfhood, goodness and want—persist and reappear.
This compact collection keeps to itself—an inquisitive, personal contemplation on childhood and growth.
Sarah Lasoye is a poet and writer from London. She is an alumna of the Barbican Young Poets and a current member of Octavia—Poetry Collective for Women of Colour. Fovea / Ages Ago is her first publication.
Listen along to the Fovea / Ages Ago playlist, curated by Sarah Lasoye.
‘Sharp, bright and inquisitive. A tender universe.’
— Rachel Long, author of My Darling from the Lions
‘An intimately rendered collection … Language is deftly deboned here, laid bare like a scraped knee, into poems of wondrous observation.’
— Momtaza Mehri, author of Doing the Most with the Least
‘With an unassuming yet unmistakable sure-footedness in each deft step, this is a body of work to be admired.’
— Jacob Sam-La Rose, author of Breaking Silence
‘A radiant debut from Sarah Lasoye. Her vision is sharp. Her voice is glisteningly clear.’
— Victoria Adukwei Bulley, author of Girl B
‘Written with joy and intention, every poem is as perfectly sculpted as the one before it. A gorgeous debut that will stay with you long after reading.’
— Hibaq Osman, author of where the memory was
‘Visionary … a collection of prismatic, Time-traced lyrics where memory and matter braid together and where muscle and image, clarity and mystery are kith and kin.’
— R. A. Villanueva, author of Reliquaria
Press
— SPAM, 15 December 2021
In Conversation with Poet Sarah Lasoye (Part 1) (Part 2)
— Roar News, 22 October 2021
REVIEW: In the Sick Hour & Fovea / Ages Ago
— SPAM, 27 August 2021
REVIEW: Embracing Vulnerability: Lola Olufemi reads an exciting debut collection
— Poetry London, 27 June 2021
EXTRACT: The NS Poem: ‘When a story tells itself to stop’
— The New Statesman, 21 April 2021