Mirrors For Princes
by Sam Riviere (After Hours Ltd, 2025), 144pp
Mirrors for Princes gathers over a decade of writing outside my books published by Faber – not quite ‘B-sides and rarities’, but ‘other writings’ that represent on a more outward-looking, varied and collaborative approach. It’s separated into two parts, each somewhat reflecting the other.
‘Poetry for Magazines’ includes pieces that originally accompanied fashion stories and art exhibitions – there are collaborations and commissions, elegies and travel pieces, trad lyrics and prose poems, emails and ekphrases.
‘Mirrors for Princes’ is a sequence of poems written since 2015, identifiable by capitalised, double-spaced lineation. Sections have previously appeared as chapbooks (‘True Colours’; ‘Darken PDF’), but the sequence is presented here for the first time in its entirety.
An intermission is provided by the prose piece ‘A True Account of Talking to Du Fu at Vesuvio’s’, a homage to the great satirical poet Kent Johnson (1955–2022).
A note on the title: Mirrors for Princes is a term that refers to a mediaeval tradition of didactic writings, a sort of handbook for minor rulers, somewhat akin to contemporary self-help literature. The poems take their cue from those texts to provide ‘advice’ for the young poet or artist, on a range topics such as masculinity, the fine arts, identity politics, academia, long distance relationships, technology, drugs, competition, internships, international cuisine, fan mail, job applications, interview etiquette, festivals, publishing, depression, mindfulness, sports, the monarchy, sexting, and divorce.
Signed copies – please specify any request in note!
by Sam Riviere (After Hours Ltd, 2025), 144pp
Mirrors for Princes gathers over a decade of writing outside my books published by Faber – not quite ‘B-sides and rarities’, but ‘other writings’ that represent on a more outward-looking, varied and collaborative approach. It’s separated into two parts, each somewhat reflecting the other.
‘Poetry for Magazines’ includes pieces that originally accompanied fashion stories and art exhibitions – there are collaborations and commissions, elegies and travel pieces, trad lyrics and prose poems, emails and ekphrases.
‘Mirrors for Princes’ is a sequence of poems written since 2015, identifiable by capitalised, double-spaced lineation. Sections have previously appeared as chapbooks (‘True Colours’; ‘Darken PDF’), but the sequence is presented here for the first time in its entirety.
An intermission is provided by the prose piece ‘A True Account of Talking to Du Fu at Vesuvio’s’, a homage to the great satirical poet Kent Johnson (1955–2022).
A note on the title: Mirrors for Princes is a term that refers to a mediaeval tradition of didactic writings, a sort of handbook for minor rulers, somewhat akin to contemporary self-help literature. The poems take their cue from those texts to provide ‘advice’ for the young poet or artist, on a range topics such as masculinity, the fine arts, identity politics, academia, long distance relationships, technology, drugs, competition, internships, international cuisine, fan mail, job applications, interview etiquette, festivals, publishing, depression, mindfulness, sports, the monarchy, sexting, and divorce.
Signed copies – please specify any request in note!