These poems interrogate the role masculinity, capital and love can play when imposed upon by chronic illness. As each new movement writhes with pain, is abject with grief, it also sings of a deeper beauty to be found in being loved at one’s most vulnerable.

William Gee is a poet from the West Country who lives with and writes about chronic illness. His debut pamphlet Rheuma (Bad Betty Press, 2020) was selected as the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice for Winter 2020, and his work has appeared widely in publications including Poetry London and Tentacular and on BBC Radio 4.