Tag Archives: poetry

Poetry book review – Notes from a Bright Field by Rose Cook

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Notes From A Bright Field book coverI encountered this poet at the night of readings I took part in for Telltales at Penzance Literary Festival. In a sea of stories and performance poetry, Rose Cook’s poetry rang out as something deeper and more substantial than most – nourishing in a way that few assortments of words achieve.

Because as writers, that’s what we’re trying to do, isn’t it? To string words together in ways that are original and fresh, yet cut through to a truth all can recognise and potentially be enriched by?

Rose has a defter hand than most, or should that be a keener eye? She sees the world with uncommon clarity, noticing the things, small and large, we might easily overlook, and helps the reader view it afresh. The collection reads as being distinctly personal yet generously shared, as Rose talks us through strolls through woodlands, pointing out the birds she seems to love, then sweeps us indoors to peek into her mother’s hand mirror, to spy contains reflections of “my eyes, quick green,/ wild sticklebacks in a rain pond.” Continue reading →

Book review – Green Poems for a Blue Planet by Martin Kiszko

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Green poems for a Blue Planet coverMartin Kiszko’s Green Poems for a Blue Planet offer the chance to take an irreverent, sometimes alarming, often hopeful journey through ecology.

With Nick Park’s quirky illustrations and Martin Kiszko’s astute yet comedic words, this poetry book is a rare treat for adults and children alike.

Martin highlights serious issues with such a deft touch that you’ll find yourself smiling even as you take on board his points about recycling and waste.

Despite the humour, the poems are also deeply thought-provoking, with lines in poems such as Street Names: “Places named after the trees that once lived there”, and My Natural History: “I took the path by the highway/Where my heartbeat could not be heard.” Continue reading →

Book review – Connections: An Anthology

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Connections book coverBefore I begin this review, I have a small confession to make – I have two pieces included in this anthology of poetry and prose from Paragram, and there are few things more exciting to receive through the post than a neatly packaged volume that features your own published words.

That said, I actually found myself getting so absorbed in this collection that when I did encounter my own pieces it was something of a surprise! From the melancholy to the wry, the poems and prose pieces draw you in with unexpected strength given their brevity.

Messages of love, murmurs of regret and realisation, promises and unspoken hopes thread the whole together. Continue reading →

More Water Than Land

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untitled cr Katy Webster

For the Totterdown Front Room Art Trail 2011, I coordinated a group of writers to collaborate with artists across the trail, producing pieces inspired by some of the artwork.

I wrote this poem in response to Katy Webster’s abstract painting shown here. Curiously enough, when I showed the written piece to Katy, she mentioned that she’d had the idea for the painting while on a train journey. You can see more of Katy’s work at www.katywebster.com.

More Water Than Land

If she half-closes her eyes, the world blurs against the window,
hills and fields transforming
into a view that seems more water than land.

The scene is so familiar she almost inhales the sweet,
damp smell of crops soaking up rain; puddles mirroring
the fading sheen of the twi-lit blue.

Daylight has already begun to ebb, inviting night
to creep in, and her own reflection to supersede the countryside
of memories she journeys through.

Something tightens in her gut at the thought that not long after
her face becomes an apparition haunting the glass,
she’ll arrive back in the place she once called home.

She closes her eyes fully, blocks out the rain-smudged scenery,
feeling only the thud-ah-thud, thud-ah-thud
of the train rushing her on.