Master of Distances

Master of Distances consists of a hundred or so prose fragments fluctuating between dream, nightmare and a harsh reality: the bleakness of ageing, and accompanying the loved one through a long and debilitating illness. The continuity of mood and imagery gradually melds the fragments into a single poem. The poet stumbles confusedly as through a labyrinth of feeling and sensation. Who or what is the mysterious master of distances of the title? Time? Language? Oneself? The answer is a radical experiment in poetry and a new departure for this fine lyric poet.Jordi Doce is one of the three or four living European poets whose work I most treasure. He brings all his faculties to the rich task of being; his voice inhabits the names, not just with wonder, but with new possibilities; [...] he is a companion, not a guide, always present with us, never merely pointing what he thinks might be the way.-John BurnsideOne of the most striking elements of We Were Not There is that feeling of collaborative concern, that awareness of commonality, the record of experiences that permits us to recognise our common humanity. -Ian Brinton, Tears in the Fence Few modern poets are better able to make us rethink our everyday purposes and perceptions.-Brian Morton, PN ReviewPraise for Master of DistancesThe book is further evidence of Doce's deeply personal lyrical journey, blending realism and metaphysics, an attention to the visible and lived with the imaginary and symbolic, the many faces of emotion with the bristling edges of thought.-Manuel Rico, El País