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• Peter Mackey

  You do not need to be a genius to figure out that this author’s life has had some really wonderful ups and tragic downs; and this book of poems explains how she has managed to stay afloat and above the fray as she dashes down a white water cataract on the Colorado River. I have to admit that I have a limited knowledge of poetry, scarred I think by an English secondary education that was science and maths focussed and where public exam results were prioitised above all else. So often we rush through our lives, without ever stopping to ‘smell the roses’ as the English say. I have started to view modern poetry modern as smelling the roses. What I love about these poems is that they are in plain language without all the cliches that can wreck an otherwise well constructed poem from the classical period. For example, the author highlighs specific examples for those of us that are too dim to imagine examples. Instead of saying go out and look at the “eternal glory of God’s unseen hand on earth”, the author tell me ‘here we have a bluebell field by a pond in sping, in any British wood’, available for all to see. The catch is that to see it, you have to be there, which means getting out of bed when you are feeling depressed or even grieving, you must shower and put on your clothes, maybe even eating breakfast, then walking through some woodland, and look for those bluebell fields, seeing and noticing the blossom on the trees, seeing a funny little squirrel or a brightly plumed bird. Note you don’t hurtle through a road in a wood in your luxury automobile. The beauty can be had free, in any season, and at any time of day or night. The message being, you do not have to look at the Mona Lisa to appreciate beauty, it is all around you, all you have to do is wake up and enjoy it. My life has fortunately been spared tragedy so far, but this little book of poetry has inspired me to seek more connect more with beauty of all sorts, including nature. There are some really fine short poems in the volume, short but with big ideas The author has shared the beauty of the natural world with her partner, only to lose him to illness She has recognised that experiencing beauty and nature has enabled her to connect with past memories spent in beautiful environments enjoyed with her partner. Wonderful times and loves. Note this is not escapism, but true expeience and realism. I urge you, even if not an obvious poetry fan to buy these readable volume and I can guarantee you will learn something to your benefit.

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