Surge by Jay Bernard is a haunting yet deeply life-affirming collection of poetry. It responds to the tragic events of the 1981 New Cross Fire in London: a birthday party that ended in the deaths of thirteen young Black people. The horrific event triggered a community response after a disappointing police response, leading to one of the largest protest movements in modern Britain. It was a watershed moment. The poems also resonate with the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire, creating a powerful echo across generations of fire, lost lives, and demeaning responses by the authorities.
Despite this devastating historical and emotional background, Surge manages to be full of vitality. Bernard’s language breathes life into the people at its heart: joy, resilience, and love. The result is a collection that feels both elegiac and defiant, full of life as well as pain. There’s queer joy and community compassion alongside brutality and grief.
What’s apparent is the depth of research behind the work. You can sense the layers of context Bernard weaves into every line…. the archive work, the oral histories, the political insight, the forgotten details that bring events back to life.
One word: powerful.
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