The Mirror Trade

The title poem of this collection is set in Murano, home to the Venetian glass-making industry. The alchemical processes of mirror-making, its 'furnaces and transubstantiations, / amalgams of tin and quicksilver' become a guiding metaphor for the poet. Cityscapes are haunted by memories both personal and historic. Formally inventive, restless, inquisitive, these poems capture our attention by subverting expectations.

Zoë Skoulding co-edits the literary magazine Skald with Ian Davidson and their collection of collaborative poems, Dark Wires, was published by West House Books in 2007. She holds an AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts in the School of English at Bangor University where she also lectures part-time in the School of Lifelong Learning.