Adam Thorpe Poetry

Adam Thorpe is a British poet and novelist who has also written short stories, radio dramas, and documentaries. He contributes to the Guardian, the Poetry Review, and other publications. He’s lived in several different countries and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award in 1988 for his collection Mornings in the Baltic. His novel, Ulverton, is one of his best-known works. It covers 350 years of English history and won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize. His work is admired by his contemporaries, such as Hilary Mantel.

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On Her Blindness

‘On Her Blindness’ by Adam Thorpe is a loving poem dedicated to the poet’s mother. It explores how lost sight can impact one’s life and the frustration of not being understood.

Adam Thorpe’s poem ‘On Her Blindness’ is known for its quiet honesty and emotional depth. It focuses on the personal experience of watching a loved one suffer in silence. While Thorpe has written other poems and novels, this one stands out because of how personal and emotionally direct it is. It may not be his most famous piece, but it is often remembered for how it speaks about illness and the difficulty of acceptance.

My mother could not bear being blind,

to be honest. One shouldn’t say it.

One should hide the fact that catastrophic

handicaps are hell; one tends to hear,

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