With Mouths Open Wide: New and Selected Poems

John Caddy’s latest collection of poems documents his recovery from a stroke. Carefully negotiating the balance of outside and inside, the poems rebuild a delicate web of cognition, identity, and perception. From the revulsion on a child’s face as Caddy struggles to walk to the gift of a night nurse revealing a tattoo, the poems defy consolation in their consideration of mortality. Also containing poems from three previous collections, With Mouths Open Wide showcases the best work of a major contemporary poet.