Heartfelt, witty and subtly political anthems of everyday life.
Lee Pollard, Sheffield Hallam University Department of Social Work and Social Care
 
In this collection, poet Charlie Parker breathes life into working-class youth and upbringing, seeking to defy the belief that the written word – and poetry itself – is only for those who understand poetry. Much like life itself, it is something for all to enjoy: to share our sorrows and highs, our loves, our politics, sex and mutual experiences. A snapshot of both the intimate day-to-day lives and the great pressing issues of our current English climate are on display, from tales of Northern family life, teenage laughs and angst to first jobs, dilapidated town centres and hard conversations – It’s Like This provides an unflinching look at modern England.
 
These poems are urgent dispatches from a divided island; an England of culture wars, widening inequality, and sinking prospects. This is working-class writing that looks to the past but is of the moment – one foot on the university campus, the other in the council estate, at home in neither... lays bare the state of the nation but hints at what the country might become with a little compassion, care, and solidarity. Charlie Parker is an angry young man, but he’s a hopeful one, too.
Professor David Forrest, Film and Television Studies, The University of Sheffield