If All the World and Love Were Young
(Author) Stephen SextonMemories of going 'through the looking-glass' into the land of video games are some of the most evocative of all childhood. In these poems we are rushed back to years spent playing Super Mario World, a place where people are small and flowers are large, a place of treacherous labyrinths and heart-stopping leaps of faith, where the materiality, wonder and peril of that world bleeds into our own as the young player bravely travels with his mother on the journey of her life-ending illness. Drawing on traditions of elegy and pastoral, this is a daring, moving and lyrically beautiful exploration of memory, grief and the unreal.
Stephen Sexton
Stephen Sexton is a Northern Irish poet known for his introspective and emotive writing style. His most notable work is the collection "If All the World and Love Were Young," which explores themes of grief, memory, and loss through the lens of his mother's death. Sexton's poetry often blends personal experience with references to art, literature, and popular culture, creating a rich and layered tapestry of emotion. His work has been praised for its lyricism and emotional depth, solidifying his place as a rising star in contemporary poetry. Sexton's contributions to literature have reinvigorated the genre of confessional poetry, offering a fresh perspective on themes of mortality and remembrance.