A. Carder writes the most poignant and lyrical prose poetry.
In Between Dusk and Darkness, published by Bennison Books, she recalls steps along the confusing pathways of love: the life-changing discovery of first love, breakages and repairs, grief and new discovery, relationships over time.
A.Carder’s writing is both emotionally frank and delicately discreet. Vivid details ensure that the memories are personal; telling images make them universal. Key imagery reappears throughout the pages, like threads in a fabric.
Each of the pieces can be read on its own and enjoyed out of context. The book may also, however, be read as an unfolding story – except that persona and events are veiled, elusive. This heightens our interest, keeps us wanting more, finally creating an air of unresolved enchantment.
Below are two pieces from the first section of the book.
Between Dusk and Darkness is available from Amazon.
Nefertiti in Jeans
Then, on the bus, you turned and kissed my left temple. And the old men half-puckered and the women shining above their shopping, and me Nefertiti in jeans. The woman in the bakery folded our French stick in half as if subduing a wrestler. And so began our stockpile of private treasures. In such moments lives are arranged, more final than a marriage. And every bakery since, every inhalation of fresh-baked bread, a reminder of that consecration. You made curry, its exotic aroma narcotic, and everything changed for all time.
Dark Furniture and Tall Sash Windows
I remember that room. Its vastness and draughts, the high ceiling and ancient beds. Dark furniture and tall sash windows. You, barely 20, watched my sleeping face. And the moonlight really did move across it. And you wept. Because, you said, your heart had broken open, quietly. The perfect match of pitch and resonant frequency shattering a glass. I had a name then. You tasted it in your mouth. Now, if I run a moist finger around the rim of a glass, I can hear the ghostly hum of that resonance. And hear again my name in your mouth. It is sweet.
Bennison Books 
A. Carder’s writing is absolutely beautiful … arresting … mesmerising. It is something very special and so well worth looking up and buying.
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I have this fabulous book and remember those two pieces so well, especially Nefertiti in Jeans! It’s one of my favourites. All beautifully written and a joy to read and some just that little bit challenging. xx
Standing Feather and I included A. Carder’s work in our anthology, No More Can Fit Into the Evening. The poems we included had both atmosphere and mystery to them. Her book, Between Dusk and Darkness, adds to the mystery found in the anthology while, at the same time, hinting at a larger story of a love story–much in the same way that Shakespeare does in his sonnets. A lot of readers want poetry to be assessable, to jump into their minds with a comfort that does not require them to sink into the language and the mystery and the hints of story. I’m afraid that’s never been my cup of tea. I’d rather become immersed into language and story that is always on the edge of understanding, that leaves me in a world that I understand and know but that offers something more. The something more in A. Carder’s work is the mood and atmosphere that intrigues and enlightens the reader with a sense of the mysterious, the powerful, the beautiful. What a poet A. Carder is.
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