The Glass Roof Falls as Rain

‘Gary Day’s poems may derive from a love of literature, nature and art but are most profound in the brief glimpses they offer of relationships and lives. We are shown moments when an individual might stand on the edge of some new knowledge, reaching towards an insight which eludes simple definition and towards which words can merely gesture. Some of the shortest poems in this book will linger long in recollection.’ – Kathleen Bell

‘Admirers of Gary Day’s literary criticism for its humane, perceptive and wide-ranging intelligence will not be surprised to find those qualities very much in evidence here. His poetry has a keen-eyed appreciation of the particular in the general, the unique in the everyday, and the power of certain chanced-upon scenes or events to epitomise a life, a town, a period, or a mood. The poems are technically adroit, formally accomplished, and often remarkable for drawing such a wealth of expressive resources from language that is strikingly simple yet eloquent. A wonderful first collection!’ – Christopher Norris

‘This is a beautiful collection of poems that makes ‘the familiar… / flame like a star.’ In it, snowdrops, trees, daffodils, the moon, even poetry itself seem to gain consciousness, speak back to us. This is poetry as ‘the perfect host’ who ‘welcomes all her guests’: approachable, exquisite, vivid.’ – Dr Jonathan P Taylor

‘Gary Day’s poems are a testament to the human condition explored through the familiar and the everyday. Such ordinary acts as putting out the rubbish, weeding and hanging up the washing acquire an existential quality. Yet the poems remain highly accessible as the poet nostalgically considers “what is lost”, while looking through a glass darkly “And weeps that he once/Held a world in the palm of his hand”.’ – Sue Hubbard