industrial

The Book Bag: When It Rained For A Million Years By Paul Farley

Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week.

This week has been busy. Bank Holiday blustery winds almost sent my towels into next doors garden, I got an acceptance and a rejection,  saw some oystercatcher chicks fledge from the nest near work and attended the Broken Spine Arts open mic on Thursday evening. Also, I started anniversary celebrations with a visit to a very special restaurant. Details on that in couple of weeks maybe.

I also launched The Book Bag: Poetic Voices. If you’re yet to read, each month will feature a different Poet, showcasing an exemplary piece of poetry. I’m really excited for the names coming up and chuffed to bits that Matthew MC Smith agreed to be the inaugural Poetic Voice.

On top of that, I’ve been reading;

When It Rained For A Million Years

  • Poet: Paul Farley
  • Press: Picador

Sometimes a book cover or title will grab you. This is what happened when I saw ‘When It Rained For A Million Years’. Both grabbed my attention, and as I read the back cover, I thought, yes this will do. In all honesty, I hadn’t picked up a Paul Farley book prior to this purely because I hadn’t come across his work. Something I will be rectifying.

Again, I’ve popped a playlist that I listened to whilst reading this as it was well received from last week’s episode.

There are some real impactful and emotionally charged poems within the collection including ‘Source’. The piece ‘Difficult To Enter House’ felt heavy and I had to take a few minutes to breathe before continuing reading. Another excellent example is ‘Our Father Showed Us Sea Level’, that had a different sort of weight.

Farley peppers humour throughout the book whether tongue in cheek or satire. I chuckled a while after reading ‘Turkeys’ and ‘Attack of The Fifty-Foot Poem’. However, these pieces are multi levelled and on second reading you find more and so it continues.

The imagery on display in this book is vivid and potent. Pieces such as ‘Wagtail Roost’ and ‘Cheshire Oaks Outlet Village’ and ‘Corncrakes’ are perfect examples. The poem ‘Cross Bedding, Between Edge Hill and Liverpool’ is another that I was drawn to. A marvel.

The landscape plays an integral role in this collection. The settings aren’t pastoral. Farley uses industrial backdrops (his bio does mention he is from Liverpool) to great effect, and they seem familiar. Liverpool and Newcastle are similar in terms of industrial heritage. Poems such as ‘King Carbon’ and ‘The Workaround’ (which takes us back in time and to the North East) shine a spotlight on these often-overlooked places. On a side note, the people of Liverpool have my thoughts after the horrific scenes following the bus parade.

References to pop culture appear throughout the collection. The poem ‘Usher’ takes us into the cinema of the early 90s. Each stanza headed with a movie title. Zoom pops up in the piece ‘Gorilla’ and ‘Horde’ gives readers an 80s soundtrack.



Form and style take on various forms throughout the book. One of my favourite examples of this is ‘The Execution of Anne Boleyn, Airfix 1:12’. A meticulous piece that I almost lost my head at.

Here’s the small playlist I enjoyed when reading this book.


David Bowie – Space Oddity
The Beatles – Hey Jude
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Sting & The Police – Roxanne
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
Elton John – I’m Still Standing
Bruce Springsteen – Dancing In The Dark
De La Soul – Me, Myself & I
Duran Duran – The Living Daylights
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
The Human League – Don’t You Want Me

This collection has broad appeal. I would recommend it to poetry readers who enjoy vivid imagery, humour and emotion woven through excellently crafted multi-layered pieces.

Favourite Poem

Again, I’m choosing a few this week. Bubblewrap, Trth and Where the Owl Sleeps and the Spiders Nest.

One More Thing…

Your regular episode of The Book Bag will be taking a break for next week as my wife and I are celebrating our anniversary. See below for the cracking book I’ll be reading for the next entry.

And Another…

I’d love some audiobook and podcast recommendations to listen to during travelling. Let me know on social media or in a comment below if you have one.

And Finally…

I’d like to say a huge congratulations to all poets who were on the longlist and the prize-winners for the Rialto Nature & Place competition that was recently announced. It was great to see Book Bag poets Matt Gilbert & Victoria Spires amongst the names.

The Next Read Coming on 15th June 2025

  • Title: I Am Not Light
  • Poet: Louise Machen

Take it easy and stay poetic, I’ll catch you next week.

Paul