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Amazon Description

Chris Campbell’s full-length poetry collection explores fatherhood and a male perspective of family life. The 48 poems cover universal themes including life’s stages and struggles, with remorse and self-questioning, all while appreciating its joys. It is a book that touches on the past, its effect on the present, and the contrast between the idealised and reality of life as a dad with two young children alongside marriage, work, illness, and urban life.

Written in Bristol, UK, the collection highlights the city’s nature, current and historic family relationships, and the effect of an ear infection that led to a brain haemorrhage. It tackles the journey of recovery, identifying dark and light moments and an appreciation for the everyday.

Sample poems from Why I Wear My Past to Work

Ode to the Pruning Woman Eaten by Vines

Google Maps fails and I slam the brakes, 

swerve to skirt your wild lawn, the curves

of your glamourous dress; worms squelch 

through sequins. You’re too busy to hitch

your limbs; strips of spiked hair prick from under

a wide-brimmed hat, cheeks half buried

in pruning, gloved fingers sprouting earth.

A mesh belt tucks in your remaining hours;

fruit clings to pots and you rise

to let watering-can sleeves tip. Sun bakes

your freshly painted villa. I wind my window

down and in air-conditioned splutter tell you

I’m late for my son’s birth. Your brambling tongue 

feeds me directions, and I screech away, decay

fumes. In the mirror I see you wilt,

then turn again to water, ensuring the survival

of roots – buckets of lawn luscious and full,

as I hope your life has been before you feed

your veins to the soil, before your best attire

spoils, threads unravelling like climbers, before

your road ahead is swallowed by sun.

Day Trip, 2000

You grin in fading sun, checked shirt 

and flattened hair. Were we on Exmouth Beach?

That’s how I remember it. Sunhat, ice cream, 

your gums revealed like mine are now, 

frowning at this photograph. Remembering, 

how an hour before, we were on the boat 

eating lunch, and, as young boys do, I grew 

restless counting the passing geese, while you 

discussed your final plans with Mum. 

You called me a little bastard and I stomped 

my feet and dragged a napkin towards the deck.

Your eyes were larger than the fish of the day. 

Did I cause a scene? Maybe. How was I to know 

it would be the last time we’d see you uncle, 

I’d clenched the napkin thinking bastard, bastard.

© Chris Campbell

Praise for «Why I Wear My Past to Work«

«Chris Campbell’s writing shows us that the domestic world-the human world, the interpersonal world-is not the opposite of the sublime but the very place where the sublime takes root. Stevens proposed that ‘being there together is enough, ‘ and out of this belief, Campbell makes heartfelt, compelling, and deeply true poems.»-Joseph Fasano, Author of The Last Song of the World, BOA Editions, Ltd.

«Chris Campbell’s poems mine the jewels of life from the sudden raw dark of serious illness…. Chris deftly recovers himself from disintegrating language to face up to the tyranny of time. This collection is a celebration of life from a poet who knows its worth….»-Martin Figura, Author of The Remaining Men, Cinnamon Press

«This impressive collection of poems strums the heart strings, composing moving melodies of meticulous metaphors and sentiment filled similes…. A nature-noticing, thought-provoking, heartbreaking, joyous, wholesome, transparent and vivid read. An all-consuming sensory experience of beautiful dreams, harsh realities and silver linings.» -Jemima Hughes, Author of Into The Ordinary, Verve Poetry Press

«This gem of a collection is a finely crafted meditation on family life and a testimony to the changes wrought by fatherhood…. The poetry is never less than delicate, but its sheer emotional heft will catch you unawares.»-Lesley Curwen, Author of Rescue Lines, The Hedgehog Poetry Press

«…. In a world of books which want to devastate you, Campbell is content to remind you that you could at any moment be devastated. He allows you to carry on with your day-for now at least. This is a quiet momento mori of a book full of love, regret, curiosity, inevitability, and truth.»-Tom Sastry, Author of Life Expectancy Begins to Fall, Nine Arches Press

«Campbell captures the minutia of the world in exquisite detail. These are personal, humorous and poignant poems rooted in the tragi-comedy of daily life. His snapshots of moments, landscapes and characters are skillfully and empathically written. They linger in the mind of the reader, demanding to be read again.»-Kitty Donnelly, Author of In Dangerous Hours, Indigo Dreams Publishing

«… a luminous, heartfelt collection that gently uncovers the profound within the everyday, offering a quiet mysticism that invites the reader to meet each moment with curiosity, gratitude, and awe. With crystalline craftsmanship and emotional depth, Campbell transforms domestic scenes; parenting, home life and work, into exquisite verse. Fatherhood, masculinity, and working life are explored with rare honesty and grace, turning memory into a form of witness that is both intimate and universal, infusing the quiet poetry of domestic life with lyric enchantment. The result is a collection that feels deeply personal and fiercely true – an extraordinary addition to an already impressive body of work.»-Samatar Elmi, Author of The Epic of Cader Idris, Flipped Eye Publishing

«Chris Campbell’s playful, lyrical second collection interrogates aspects of life that we so easily take for granted and transforms them into rich tapestries of experience: in his artful, deft hands, the ordinary and mundane become intriguing, extraordinary…. Chris unleashes the power of precision of detail and language. The colloquial turns into the arresting. The odd becomes beautiful. The taunting frustrations of life wriggle with humour. Why I Wear My Past to Work is an uplifting, hugely enjoyable collection that will have you lingering on individual poems, re-reading them, but wanting to devour more. Already, I can’t wait for Chris’s third collection to appear.»-Robert Walton, Author of Sax Burglar Blues, Seren Books

«It’s no exaggeration to say that Chris Campbell’s collection is a delight to read. If you enjoy the wit and energy of John McCullough and Caroline Bird and are engaged by Jen Feroze and Jack Bedell’s warmly perceptive poems on family and friendship, you’ll want to embrace this heartwarming, wry collection, which excels in shining a light on the small treasures of life in a crafted, economical style. Campbell is also one of the best around at poem titles which had me laughing out loud. Worth the money, alone.»-Dr. Matthew M. C. Smith, Editor – Black Bough poetry and author of The Keeper of Aeons

On US Amazon: Kindle (Paperback is available)

The book is available for UK readers on Amazon.co.uk: Why I Wear My Past To Work: Amazon.co.uk: Campbell, Chris: 9781961206182: Books

Author Biography

Chris Campbell is a Dublin-born former journalist who works as an Editor in Bristol. Chris’ second full collection, ‘Why I Wear My Past to Work’, has just been published (September 2025) by Parlyaree Press. His new mini pamphlet will be published by Atomic Bohemian in 2026. 

His poems appear in publications including Magma, Prole, Ink Sweat & Tears, The Waxed Lemon, Sídhe Press, Indigo Dreams’ The Dawntreader, Black Bough Poetry, and Streetcake. Chris was Highly Commended in the 2024 Cobh International Poetry Competition and shortlisted for Canterbury Poet of the Year 2023. He features on BBC Radio Bristol. He has two pamphlets and a collection of poems published, called ‘All Island No Sea’ (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).