Polkadot Wounds
Polkadot Wounds by Anthony Vahni Capildeo, published by Carcanet Press, Limited in 2024, is a poetry collection that explores the complexities of life in contemporary times. This edition, comprising 100 pages, invites readers to engage in dialogues with both historical and contemporary figures, while reflecting on personal encounters. The work creatively reinterprets landscapes as ‘landskips’, merging elements of travel and nature writing with a sense of childlike spontaneity.
In Polkadot Wounds, Capildeo navigates themes of loss and joy, drawing inspiration from Dante’s Divine Comedy to address untimely deaths and moments of happiness during the pandemic. The collection also highlights the experiences of queer and diverse communities, offering a rich tapestry of voices and reflections. The title is derived from the stones of a ruined Norman castle in Launceston, Cornwall, where Capildeo served as writer-in-residence, further grounding the work in its geographical and historical context.
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Winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize for Poetry 2025
Winner of the OCM Bocas Poetry Prize for Caribbean Literature 2025
A Telegraph Book of the Year 2024
Polkadot Wounds is a delight, wrestling with life in our restless times. Capildeo entices us to enter conversations with others (dead and living), amongst glimpsing reflections of encounters. Landscapes become ‘landskips’, playing on traditions of travel and nature writing, childlike spontaneity and movement across gaps. Dante’s Divine Comedy frames untimely deaths and breakthroughs of joy, during the pandemic and in queer and far-flung communities. The title of the book is inspired by the stones of the ruined Norman castle in Launceston, Cornwall, and the local martyr, St Cuthbert Mayne, where Capildeo was writer-in-residence with the Charles Causley Trust.
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