Philip Gross’s The Thirteenth Angel

Congratulations to Philip Gross for his upcoming poetry collection The Thirteenth Angel, published by Bloodaxe Books. Coming November 17, 2022, Gross’s collection examines patterns in the world around us and also within ourselves. It teeters between the before and after of the pandemic years, focusing in the opening sequences on almost-aerial views of London streets and Europe’s motorways. It ultimately reveals that “if there are angels, they are nothing otherworldly, but formed by angles of incidence between real immediate things.”

Moving from island to island, continent to continent, Between the Islands is concerned with memories, with resonances throughout time, but also with emergent dangers; ecological fears and the rising islands of refuse accumulating in our oceans.

Poetry Book Society Bulletin, Spring 2020 [on Between the islands]

Philip Gross has written over twenty books of poetry and won a number of awards, including the TS Eliot Prize for his book The Water Table. To learn more about Gross, visit his website.

Great poetry is like walking on water. In this paradoxical, humane collection, Philip Gross achieves that miracle.

Polly clark, The Guardian [on the water table]

To preorder The Thirteenth Angel, go here.

Philip Gross’s poem “Survivor” appeared in Issue 6 of Superstition Review.

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9 thoughts on “Philip Gross’s The Thirteenth Angel

  • September 23, 2022 at 1:59 pm
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    Congratulations Philip Gross! I think examining the world both before and after the pandemic started is going to be important as we move forward. I wonder if he has other books published by Bloodaxe Books?

  • September 25, 2022 at 1:52 pm
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    Congratulations Philip Gross! The pandemic is still such a recent event, but I’m so interested to see all the literature and stories that will be created and inspired from this point in our lives. Sometimes I think about what it’s going to be like in twenty years when my children read about this pandemic and ask me what it was like first hand, and I’m grateful that there will be stories and others who will still share this experience.

  • September 25, 2022 at 5:35 pm
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    The importance of reflecting and writing about the before and after the pandemic is essential and I am intrigued in reading his poetry collection. Congrats Philip Gross!

  • September 26, 2022 at 1:50 pm
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    Congrats Philip Gross! This is such an interesting concept, and I’m sure that tying it into the idea of the pandemic offers great impact to readers. The pandemic was truly an event that impacted everyone’s lives, albeit a bit differently for each individual. Very interested to see how this event shapes his work!

  • September 27, 2022 at 9:10 am
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    Congrats Philip Gross! I am intrigued by the concept for this collection, especially the idea of angels as “nothing otherworldly, but formed by angles of incidence between real immediate things.” Sounds like a very original perspective on the pandemic experience.

  • September 27, 2022 at 9:34 am
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    Congratulations Phillip Gross! 🙂 That is an amazing accomplishment. I look forward to it coming out in November and getting a more in depth view on your poetry style. I throughout enjoy poetry about social commentary and the world in relation to itself and how it is within us.

    • September 29, 2022 at 2:09 pm
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      All of Gross’s poetry collections contain social commentary–if you can’t wait for November, I would definitely check out some of his other books!

  • September 27, 2022 at 11:13 am
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    Congrats Philip Gross! This is another excellent accomplishment under your belt, and I love to see that “Survivor” first appeared in Superstition Review! Very intrigued to explore some Pandemic-related poetry, too. It was a difficult time for us to say the least, and I’m always curious to learn about other people’s perspectives during that period—we all preserved through such unique challenges, both physically and mentally, and to be able to look through the lens of such an accomplished poet back at those challenges is a treat. Looking forward to the collection!

  • September 27, 2022 at 12:04 pm
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    Congratulations! I know that during the pandemic, I found my writing to revolve a lot around the things I saw going on around me. I’d love to read about how others perceived something that so greatly changed some people’s way of life. This collection comes out right around my birthday so it could be a lovely birthday gift to myself. . .

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