It's a rare thing to come across a debut collection as cohesive and accomplished as Rotten Days in Late Summer. Whether writing on love, class, illness, the working life, death or the complex and multi-faceted nature of human desire, Ralf Webb is never less than razor-sharp. With a storyteller's flair, he evokes a world of shifting terrains in which 'anything could be an omen', and where refrains, motifs, stanza shapes and rhymes call to each other across the pages. In his extraordinary 'Treetops' sequence, Webb navigates the labyrinths of mental illness and the ambiguous prize of health . . . It all feels gloriously, anarchically new Julia Copus
Ralf Webb grew up in the West Country. He co-ran the Swimmers pamphlet and event series, and from 2017 to 2021 was managing editor of The White Review. Recently, he ran the Arts Council England-funded PoetryxClass reading group project. His writing has appeared widely, including in the London Review of Books, Poetry Review, PAIN, Prototype, Hotel, Oxford Poetry and Fantastic Man. This is his first collection.