Rego Retold

Poems in Response to Works by Paula Rego

Lowery Owen

As Deryn Rees-Jones writes in her foreword, one of the most striking elements of Paula Rego's art is her ability to hint at implied narratives, to dramatise the "pause between feeling and action, between knowing and not knowing". Into this pause, Owen Lowery inserts his own poetic responses to Rego's works. Drawing on the often disturbing themes of Rego's works – power, violence, the body at its most vulnerable – Lowery creates poems that both interpret the visual and move away from it into new narratives. "Rego Retold" is a fascinating exploration of the interplay of word and image; it is also a poet's personal tribute to one of the most significant artists of our time.

About the Author

Owen Lowery was born in 1968. Formerly a British Judo champion, he suffered a spinal injury while competing and is now a tetraplegic. He has a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Bolton University, where he is completing his PhD. His poetry has appeared in "Stand" and "PN Review", and has been listed in the Bridport Prize, the Welsh Open Poetry Competition, the Virginia Warbey Prize, and the International Sonnet Competition.

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