Richard Meier’s first collection of poetry won many admirers for its wry, wise and sharp-eyed insight into the minutiae of daily life, and for the poet’s remarkable ability to uncover the little abysses that lurk just below the domestic familiar. As the title indicates, his second, Search Party, casts its net more widely – and looks at our experiences of being lost to others, as well as lost from ourselves. Many of the poems in this collection explore attempts to repair severed connections, or to forge links never properly established: from a father’s desperate search for his son missing at sea, to a child’s reaction to being denied a responsive gaze, and a footballer’s sublime (if optimistic) pass to a teammate – these poems address the nature of the distances between us. Most importantly, they also show the lengths to which we will go to ensure that these distances are closed, and that the most basic of our needs are met: to be seen, to be recognized – and ultimately, sought out and found by one another.
