Caroline Bird’s two earlier collections were acclaimed for their exuberant energy, surreal imagination and passion – ‘a bit of a Howl for a new generation’, wrote the “Hudson Review”. “Watering Can” celebrates life as an early twenty-something. The poems, writes Caroline Bird, ‘contain prophetic videos, a moon colonised by bullies, weeping scholars, laughing ducks, silent weddings – all the fertiliser that pours on top of your head.’ The extraordinary verve and compassion of her verse propels us into the anxiety of new responsibilities.

Raw but never hopeless, “Watering Can” has comedy, wordplay and bright self-deprecation.