The Horizon Shift Sideways displays an informed curiosity about the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it — both human and animal — and the entanglements and interactions that exist between these. The unique directness of her work is a result of the combination of the scientific and the aesthetic, combined with characteristic clear-eyed observation. 'What a delight these poems are: various, personal; full of incident, observation, visual and tactile sensitivity, intelligent comment. The lines unfold in an easy inevitability which makes one, to quote Thompson, "contemplate your place / in the natural order of things". Irish poet Eavan Boland regards a poem as "a forceful engagement between a life and a language". This rings true for Alison Thompson’s work.' — Brook Emery