Same Difference is the formally acute second collection from poet and critic Ben Wilkinson. Carefully crafted yet charged with contemporary language, the poems experiment with poetic voice and the dramatic monologue, keeping the reader on their toes and asking just who is doing the talking. Tough, gritty, and often moving, this is a collection for our times.

An understanding of the human spirit and the complexity of relationships underpin these poems. Brimming with everyone from cage fighters and boy-racers to cancer patients and whales in captivity, Wilkinson unpicks the preconceptions and prejudices that inform our encounters with the world.

He casts a scrutinising eye on the mystery of failed and successful relationships, male depression, the history of meat eating. He takes a sideways glance at sport, particularly the rewards of running, to which he is a noted devotee, and the philosophy behind athletic competition.

Throughout, he ‘steps into the shoes’ of French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896). Finding affinity with Verlaine’s astringent tone and ruthless clarity, Wilkinson borrows his ‘punchy and musical’ phrasing to reframe Verlaine’s voice for modern readers.

Seeking to undermine the confessional mode throughout, Wilkinson often weaves his arguments with traditional rhyme and metre. This formally elegant, wide-ranging collection sits firmly in the twenty-first century.