From the direct trajectory of her first collection, Straight Ahead, Clare Shaw's second collection Head On turns an unflinching gaze into startling new territories. Structured by interweaving themes of political and personal conflict, the book begins and ends with the recurrent necessity of speaking out. This is a book which speaks in equal measures, in precise and uncompromising language, about love and tenderness; violence and brutality. Clare Shaw writes to speak to the world. But first and foremost she speaks directly to the reader, through words which shock, engage, disturb and delight.