With its amusement park of a heart, mercurial wit, and sprightliness of a wild Appaloosa, Lily Blacksell’s poetry is impossible to predict – and even harder to resist. As true to its name as printed matter can be, LIFE IMMEDIATELY is the most purely enjoyable collection I have read in years.

Poetry that's remarkably and uniquely tuned to the social, to sensations, to the natural comedy in womanhood, and to the personal art of daily existence.

LIFE IMMEDIATELY, the debut from Lily Blacksell (born in 1993), introduces an equally unusual and dynamic voice. From the opening line’s internal rhyme of “hay-husk” and “eye once”, to the last poem’s self-mocking effusions (“a witty woman in a whirlpool world”) this collection is full of fun: “what is there there/ to sob about?” Set in mostly rural settings, shaggy dog stories unspool with bewildering vigour, jokes are made and pop songs fade in and out. Just occasionally, behind the manic chatter, we get a glimpse of real, unironic, poetic power: “what do you mean/ what kept me? What kept me keeps me still