Breakfast with the Scavengers - by Ben Rhys Palmer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A Welsh poet based in Mexico, his poems about Mexico capture the magic and vibrancy of a country André Breton once described as 'the most surrealist in the world.' Other poems pay homage to Welsh cult heroes John Cale and Adrian Street, and Ben's plucky ancestor, Rebecca Howells, who emigrated to Patagonia after her husband was killed in a mining explosion at Blaengwawr Colliery. At once funny, tender, and beautifully bizarre, Breakfast with the Scavengers explores love, loss, loneliness, our never-ending quest for connection, and those blink-and-you-miss-them moments of transcendence that can light up our lives.

Review Quotes

"Ben Rhys Palmer builds a world in every poem, allowing the reader to live inside it, entertained yet teetering on the precipice of disaster. These poems are romantic, apocalyptic, welcoming, terrifying, funny and heart-breaking all at once." --Caroline Bird, Published author

"Ben Rhys Palmer has an extraordinary gift for building tiny worlds... Exquisitely detailed and inventively drawn... there's a rare, playful empathy for all humans and creatures and our interdependencies. The glorious weirdness of these often surreal settings only serves to enhance emotional resonance and connection." --Suzannah Evans, Published author

"One of the most exciting poetry voices to emerge from Wales in many years... Here you will find witty and exuberantly imaginative visions, tender poems of family and loss, and a rich, individual voice." --Jonathan Edwards, Published and award-winning poet

About the Author

Ben Rhys Palmer is a poet, translator, editor, and musician born in Cardiff, Wales and now based in Guadalajara, Mexico. His poetry has been published in The London Magazine; Poetry Wales; New Welsh Review; Forklift, Ohio; Wales Arts Review; The Caterpillar; Under the Radar, and Neon. Winner of the Verve Poetry Competition 2022, Ben was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2023 and highly commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize, the Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition, The Interpreter's House Poetry Competition and the Welshpool Competition. Breakfast with the Scavengers is his debut collection.