All the Prayers in the House

Miriam Nash was born in 1985 in Inverness and grew up in Scotland, England and Wales. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study poetry at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and graduated with an MFA in 2014. She has performed her work internationally, and brought poetry into schools, museums, mental health organisations and prisons in the UK, USA and Singapore. She was the first Writer in Residence at Greenway, Agatha Christie's summer home, as part of Writing Places with the National Trust, Literature Works and The Poetry Archive. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and her pamphlet, Small Change (flipped eye), was published in 2013. She received an Eric Gregory from the Society of Authors in 2015, and was runner-up for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award in 2016. Her first book-length collection, All the Prayers in the House, is published by Bloodaxe in 2017.

'Miriam Nash's work is thematically satisfying, energetic and dynamic. These anarchic poems are the product of an original and febrile mind. A blast.' - Jackie Kay, Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2016; 'Miriam Nash's poems provide pleasure through the variety and veracity of their subject matter, her insight and freshness of approach, and the warmth she breathes into them. Through subtle shifts of key and perspective they remain touchingly accessible, whether recapturing girlhood fears and vulnerabilities or creating semi-dream worlds, as when corresponding with RLS. Equally at ease with a broken line and traditional ballad form, her often quirky ways of seeing are enhanced by the lightsomeness of a songstress.' - Stewart Conn, Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2016; 'An already mature voice exploring with great precision our painstaking routines.' - Daljit Nagra

• Guide 3 The Single Mother 4 IKEA Marriage 5 Prayer for my Father as a Child 6 The Black and Blue Boy 7 Road Move on the A38 8 Song of the Mainland 9 On my First Idea of Marriage 10 Shoplifte 11 To the Metro North Conductor 12 Nail Polish for Valhalla 13 The Wedding Vow 14 A Lightkeeper Must Be a Man of Parts 15 Letter to R. L. S. 16 The Walking Father Blues 17 Arsenal 18 Stepmother 19 At my Parents' Wedding 20 Photo of my Father, Erraid, c. 1984 21 The Mother Praises Head Lice 22 Vesper 23 It's Not Your Fault, They Said to the Girl 24 Of His Bones 25 Postcards for R. L. S. 26 The Mother's Silly Clock 27 A Plumper 28 The Arrangement 29 On my Ninth Idea of Marriage at the 2014 Scottish Referendum 30 Fair 31 Letter from R. L. S. 33 The Mother Tells her Daughter of a Storm...35 The Sink 36 The Story of the Bones 37 The Father's Caesarian 39 Michaelmas Beast 40 Last Fish 41 Good Friday 42 We Can Still Dance 43 Dad Calling on the Wooden Spoon Phone 44 Dear Mother Father God 45 Higher Maths 46 Love Song for my Parents, 20 Years Divorced 47 Song of my Harp 48 The Lights 49 Love Song for a Keeper 50 Notes 51