Bebe Ashley’s prizewinning second collection charts the poet’s efforts to qualify as a British Sign Language interpreter. Intershot with enquiries into the nature of language as it is spoken and signed, and the process of leaving and finding home, Harbour Doubts is a collection that tangles with the burning desire to communicate in the isolation of a late capitalist, post-pandemic world. It’s also a love letter to the delights of linguistics and language, a three-dimensional exploration of words and the body. Bringing together meditations on language as mediated through sound, sign, vision, and film, this exciting sophomore collection cements Bebe Ashley’s reputation as a fearless experimenter.

“The most important thing to know is that I have nearly always wanted to become a sign language interpreter, says the speaker halfway through this beautifully experimental, tender and deeply moving collection. The poems lead the reader through memories, storytelling and even a few instruction manuals towards the sheer excitement, joy and heartbreak that are so often part of learning a new language.”

— Stav Poleg

“These poems bear the clear voice of a quiet visionary taking stock in turbulent times. Ashley’s speakers risk everything to examine what is and isn’t there in the frightening in-between spaces of love, disappointment, and isolation. This is a surprising and moving collection made compelling by the strikingly simple, ordered curiosity of its watchers — both close-up and at a distance. They are committed to interpreting the signs as means of telling us, and themselves, to keep going.”

— Dawn Watson