Predictive Text

by Crystal Warren

I use words
to counter chaos.
I map the mountains,
exploring peaks and valleys,
avoiding avalanches.

In a series of tender, bite-sized poems
on being a writer, loneliness, faith, patriarchy, climate change, grief,
and more, Crystal Warren offers up an ode to the every day. With
Warren’s signature light touch, Predictive Text is sensitive,
unaffected, a relief from the brash, unrelenting tumult of twenty-first
century life, while tethered to deeper truths.

£13.00

About the author

Crystal Warren

Crystal Warren grew up in Port Elizabeth but has spent her entire adult
life in Grahamstown/Makhanda. She has studied Librarianship, English
literature and History, and works as a librarian, literary researcher
and museum curator. She edited New Coin poetry magazine for four years
and has taught creative writing courses and workshops. Her poems have
been published in several South African journals and anthologies. Her
first collection of poems Bodies of Glass was published by Aerial
Publishing in 2004.

Review

“Reading Crystal Warren’s collection Predictive Text is
like diving into a forest pool on hot summer’s day but, like all good
pools, shadows lurk. In sparse language Warren takes us on a lyric
journey through distant friendships, telephone calls, writing poetry,
personal rituals, family and, of course, love. The shadows? Loss,
sadness, aloneness, patriarchy, and compassion fatigue. Warren’s deft
handling of these never leaves the reader feeling overwhelmed. A
collection to plunge into, and return to again and again to explore all
its depth.”

Kerry Hammerton, author of Secret Keeper