The Dead Are Always Laughing at Us

The Dead Are Always Laughing at Us is Dominic Hoey at full voltage: funny, tender, furious, and absolutely committed to being understood. Written largely through lockdown, these poems track poverty and hustle, dead-end work, bad advice, good hugs, grief that keeps changing shape, and the strange, bright shock of falling in love while the world feels like it is coming apart. Hoey’s voice is plainspoken but razor-sharp, flipping from gut-punch confession to stand-up timing in a heartbeat. There are love poems that feel like survival tactics, elegies for a best friend that refuse sentimentality, and political truths delivered with the kind of clarity that does not ask permission. Designed with a bold visual element by Trudi Hewitt, each poem is given its own space, pace, and pressure, making this a collection you do not just read, you move through.