‘Utterly mesmerising. An intensely rewarding and spine-tingling experience. What pain underlies it is mitigated by so much love, rescue, hope and triumph. Only a real poet can take one from a walk with Cavafy amongst the stones of the Acropolis to the misery of Heston motorway services; from Colombian emerald mines to communing with T.S. Eliot’s ashes in East Coker… Cranitch takes the resources of landscape, science, philosophy, mythology and of course poetry and uses them not just to meditate on the cruel, sordid, terrifying and humiliating truths of addiction, but to do something more than meditate – to understand, to resolve and to transform. This is what poetry at its best and truest can do. A wonderful achievement.’ – Stephen Fry

‘Tender and profound…honest and brave…propelled by a faith in the humane, in the redemptive possibilities of love… Crystal…adds to that library that attests to the human spirit’s ability to witness and endure and, sometimes at least, come out singing.’ – Hisham Matar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return

'Crystal is certainly the most gripping collection of poetry I have ever read ... individual poems will break your heart, and your admiration for the determination to turn all this into art will never diminish.' – Nick Hornby, A Fan's Notes

'What impresses most about Ellen Cranitch's courageous second collection, Crystal, on the subject of her husband's addition to crystal meth and its devastations, is her steady rigour in not compromising, not ranting or taking flight [...] There is, throughout, a – crystal – clarity.' – Kate Kellaway, The Observer (Poetry Book of the Month)

‘Ellen Cranitch's new book, Crystal, is one in which personal dissolution, and chaos, are – at least to some extent – counteracted by fleeting, often occluded, moments of calm, and at times through the act of poetry itself […] Cranitch proves herself an adept formalist, and some of the writing here is beautifully rendered, well- seen and rich in clinching details;’ – Declan Ryan, The Irish Times

‘In Crystal, Ellen Cranitch’s second collection, the poet traces a personal and familial journal that begins with the discovery of her partner’s addiction to crystal meth. […] Though Crystal is a piece of art, a book of poetry, these moments remind us there is an actual family involved here, shouldering real risks to finances, safety, health, and life. To be in the midst of immense pressures and to strive to act in a way that is fair while maintaining a record for an audience who might need such a book, is transcendent and an act of genius.’ – Grace Wilentz, Poetry Ireland Review

    9     Bonnard I
    10     Bonnard II
    11     Bonnard III
    12     C10H15N
    13     Words
    14     Strickeen
    15     Actaeon
    16     Metamorphoses
    17     Io
    18     Uplift
    19     Tom
    21     Athens I
    22     Athens II
    23     To Cavafy
    24     Revelations
    25     Secrets
    26     Void
    27     Betrayal
    28     The Wishing Cup
    29     Double Exposure
    30     Heston Services
    31     The Drive West
    32     Kingsley Road
    33     The Stars
    34     Dan
    36     How They Give Back to Me
    37     ‘en las multitudes’
    38     The Dream
    39     Riverside
    40     Fife
    41     ‘lente currite’
    42     ‘Relapse’
    43     Bypass
    44     Trust
    45     Some statistics on relapse
    46     The Undertow
    47     Reactions
    48     Kinship
    49     Praed Street
    50     Prayer
    51     The Beaked Ships
    52     To Forget
    53     Kryos
    54     The Empty Space
    55     Church of St Michael and All Angels
    56     The Colour of Blood
    57     Chez Camille
    58     Degrees of Separation
    59     Panic Attack
    60     Antiphon
    61     Tributary
    62     The Question of Intention
    63     The Parable of the Emerald and Dark Water
    65     Theories of addiction
    66     Crystall
    67     Judgement
    70     Definition of enabling
    71     Living with Uncertainty
    74     Addiction interaction disorder
    75     Dissonance
    76     Addiction and pleasure
    77     ‘Against Hurt’
    78     The Ascent
    80     Beauty
    81     Radical
    82     What Held Me
    83     If Ever
    84     Hope
    85     Maple-serrated
    86    The Dance
    87     Grey
    88     April 1794
    89     Love
    90     December 1574
    92     Minerals Gallery, Natural History Museum, London

    95     Acknowledgements