A collection of 49 short, atmospheric nature poems, imaginative in content and spare in style, reflecting the poet's love and empathy with the world of birds, many poems having appeared previously in various literary magazines and anthologies. 17 black-and-white illustrations

Casgliad o 49 cerdd fer llawn awyrgylch, dychmygus eu cynnwys a chynnil eu harddull yn adlewyrchu cariad y bardd a'i empathi â byd yr adar, nifer o'r cerddi wedi ymddangos eisoes mewn cylchgronau llenyddol a blodeugerddi. 17 llun du-a-gwyn.

This is an interesting collection of poems and paintings of birds by Clyde Holmes, based on close observation to detail. Holmes immerses himself in their habitat and conjures up the quiet stillness needed to observe their world.

In ‘Barn Owl’, we sense the awe of the poet as we quietly observe a first sighting. The magic of the occasion is imparted to us by the phrase, ‘He was lost from sight/but I heard him/brush off star-flakes’. Holmes gives us an artist's close observation of the natural world throughout; each piece seeks to distil the essence and character, not only of the bird described, but also of its habitat. Most poems are set around his North Wales home, while others are set in Spain and India. I liked the phrase, ‘the village's white walled glare’, in ‘Cattle Egret’ and the image of the egret ‘flutter[ing] his wing-cape before a bullock/who knows no other matador’.

Holmes takes us to Spain for Choughs and Egrets and India for Kites. Again the magic of this natural world is conjured up in ‘Tithras’, with ‘a feathery flash/an unsheathing of translucent/white wings/the Magician/ nowhere to be seen’.

In these brief poems Holmes also conjures up a sense of the divine; the Paddy bird is at the crossing place between the human world and the divine. The Kite shares the one-ness of being with Krishna and in ‘Bryn Selwrn’, the swallows fly to ‘A shed's pouched beam/the still centre/of their turning world’. This seems to echo T.S. Eliot's ‘Burnt Norton’ and Elliot's ‘still point of the turning world’. Here it is also the place where the swallows rest from the ‘swallow crazed sky’.

Each poem in this collection captures and distils an essence of each bird. Throughout the poems we have a sense of personality, nature and essence of each creature. We feel the curlew's angst as his nest is threatened; the chickens are described as ‘inveterate scratchers’. We strain to hear the skylarks soaring song and smile at the lapwings' frantic waves and crash-landing. Holmes also gives us a sense of movement; skylarks soar, lapwings crash-land, swallows ‘shoot past . . . windows’, choughs ‘thread through arches’, the heron suspends himself while the hen harrier provides a complete aeronautical display.

The poems and artwork in this collection complement each other, encouraging the reader to ponder each in turn. Holmes is clearly well versed in the natural habitat of birds and brings this wealth of knowledge into his work. However, at times the poetry feels a little too minimalist, pared down and lacking in form. Poems such as 'Kestrel', 'Redstart', 'Barn Owl', 'Choughs', 'Tirthas' and 'Curlews Nest' feel almost more monologue or observation than poem, and whilst Holmes does conjure up images in the mind's eye that capture the essence of the bird, his words sometimes lack the essence of poetry.

Julia Roberts

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.