Love Algorithm

Out Now | Poetry | Paperback

• The poem 'You Want to Come to Mine?' was longlisted in the Bedford International Writing Competition 2019.

In Love Algorithm, a tender touch of lyric love fuses with the harshness of profit-driven motivations to sharpen our appreciation of the digital age. Loss of an authentic self is never far away but neither is hope for the discovery of a new kind of fellowship. As the scenes shift from London to Paris to Shanghai, the poems intensify the global connections that make love a constant riddle for all mankind.

Cay’s view in Love Algorithm is that, like it or lump it, poetry must recognise the part that internet interactions and transactions play in relationships. Such narratives “do not follow scheduled / serendipity. When they break up / there are not suitcases by the door: / just a switch flicked on an invisible wall” (‘Digital Loves’)...She has an eye for odd, intimate moments (“I love brushing my teeth with you”), and for arresting phrases: “You rolled down the car window / poked your head out like a Labrador” (‘Journeyings’)...This collection took me by surprise. There is a freshness and high-spirited openness to Eleni Cay’s poetry that I found engaging. This exhilarating collection should appeal both to the young, and to the young at heart. - Greg Freeman, Write Out Loud