In the Slowness of Melting – Glen L. Thompson

In the Slowness of Melting (Karavan Press, 2026) is a collection of lyric poems that echo the waves in form and reflect in content on surfing, the beach, the ocean and our planet.

Moving between the past, present and future, the collection registers internal and external shifts of focus to foreground change and a sense of loss. 

From the perspective of a surfer, it reflects on our social world and seeks a more utopian future in the face of sea-level rise and our climate crisis.

The book is eco-poetry – or rather, cli-poetry – infused with a surf goth aesthetic, presenting a sunburnt disposition while thinking with/in the Anthropocene. 

Glen Thompson is a surfer and historian living in Cape Town.

In the Slowness of Melting is his debut poetry collection.