These poems were commissioned by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The main theme is supposed to be personal genomics. However, the theme isn't well followed, and I'm far from convinced by the poetry.
The project was eye-opening for some of the scientists she discussed ideas with - "instead of seeing the candlestick I suddenly saw the two faces looking at each other" wrote Dr Jeffrey Barrett in the introduction. In her preface she points out that "the nature-nurture debate long predates genetic research ... the question of how much we can change the kind of person we are ... is a question about free will", which is fair enough.
I like "When we met, myself and I,/ each cast the other into a kind/ of shining shadow -// my younger self ascending through me/ like a shiver, as I turned/ toward the house below." (p.15). I'm less happy about "A curtain brims -/ its white lip appears -/ dashing and slovenly/ like the girl on the Tube/ with her bedroom hair" (p.22), or "Sometimes what's opening/ is really closing, don't you see? Like a square,/ arcaded, cobbled,/ in Poznan, for example,/ where they speak German to tourists/ because of what happened / in the squeezebox of history" (p.27)
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