Echolocation

by Becky Cherriman

Becky Cherriman’s Echolocation is a stridently assured body of work that negotiates the tethers binding mother and child. Infertility, fostering and single motherhood are encountered and marked by those elements of love that exist within the interstices of domestic spaces and everyday life: the remnant of smells and ghosts within the folds of a blanket, a child as its mother’s ‘first accurate mirror’. The improbability of existence is at the heart of the work; nothing is taken for granted, and motherhood is considered the beginning of an energized attentiveness.

A powerful pamphlet that both enthrals and inspires, Echolocation is not to be missed. Carolyn Jess-Cooke

29 pages, Paperback

Published February 17, 2016

About the author

Becky Cherriman is a writer, performer and workshop leader based in Yorkshire.

Becky’s first poetry collection "Empires of Clay" was published in November 2016 by Cinnamon Press. Her poetry pamphlet "Echolocation" published by Mother's Milk in February 2016 was longlisted in the Saboteur Awards 2016.
Her current project is “Corseted” - a one act show that weaves together the story of women’s rights campaigner Alice Cliff Scatcherd (1842-1906) with the testimonies of refugee women living in the UK.

Becky has written short stories and poetry for commission, performance and publication and was shortlisted in the 2009/10 Fish Short Story Prize. Successes include second prize in the Ilkley Literature Festival Open Mic for Paisley Quilt and first prize in the Speakeasy Open for her poem Namesake. Her poetry has been published by Mslexia, New Walk, Envoi, Mother’s Milk, Bloodaxe, Well Versed, Seren and in “Poets For Corbyn” and “Yorkshire Poetry Anthology”. It has manifested on umbrellas, on the walls of a recording studio, in libretto form and in Italian translation.

Becky was resident poet for Morley Literature Festival in 2013 and lead artist for Altofts Festival In A Day 2016. She is co-writer and performer of Haunt, a site-specific theatre commission for Imove, a project about homelessness that featured material from her, as yet, unpublished first novel.

Reviews

[Cathy Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy various kinds of poetry - but just occasionally, I read something that grips me from start to finish, cannot be put down, and will be read and re-read. 'Echolocation' comes into the latter category. As a poet myself, I'm sick with envy that such marvellous stuff is possible.
'Lullabies' is the sort of poem that ought to win prizes:

At the first call, the mothers come;
they heave off the gravel heap of sleep

and later:

They are the ssters of alchemists
grinding gold from colic and clock tick

This isn't just a perfect description of its subject but also an assured and exquisite use of language. Who wouldn't want to read (or write!) lines that good?
Lullabies isn't a one-off, though: Foster Mother's Blanket captures the smells and bits and bobs that make up home; Castrametation is a beautiful re-imagining of a fairytale; Buoy is a loving and uplifting poem, appropriately enough.
My only gripe with this is that I'd have liked it to be longer! A perfect jewel of a pamphlet. Book next, Ms Cherriman, please.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just adding a link to a review by Angela Topping