This remarkable collection explores the complex ways in which people and things are held – both metaphorically and physically – in the world. Through motifs of vessels and containers, Elizabeth Burns’ exquisite and energetic poetry investigates the relationships between presence and absence, resilience and fragility. As delicate as they are vivid, the poems in Held resonate with breathtaking emotional power. Previously published as a pamphlet, the central section of the collection, ‘The Shortest Days’, was winner of the 2009 Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets. Recommend to a friend