A book of poems by Christine Evans, a native of Yorkshire who has made her home in the Llyn peninsula. This is her fifth collection, and in it we have over forty verse libre poems. Book of the Year Short List 2007.

Casgliad o farddoniaeth Christine Evans, brodor o swydd Efrog sydd wedi ymgartrefu ym Mhen Llyn. Dyma'i phumed casgliad, a cheir yn y gyfrol hon dros ddeugain o gerddi yn y mesurau rhydd. Rhestr Fer Llyfr y Flwyddyn 2007.

This new collection by Christine Evans is simply magnificent. Many of the poems are inspired by the natural landscape, set against blistering images of the damage man can do to our world. She is amazing at contrasts, for example in one of the longer poems ‘Swimming’ as it switches verse by verse from a man dying of drowning to another dying a hospital, until, for both, 'this is where the known ways end'. Several of the poems are inspired by real people, including one I found particularly startling, ‘Survivor’, telling the story of the Bronte family, a fierce portrait that ends ‘where rooks called mockery/to the father, nine-times-bereft/Bronte, survivor.’

This is a tough, harsh collection, the language dominated by consonants, the lines by unexpected verbs or images. There is humour, as in ‘Not Much Like R. S. Thomas’. There are beautiful images of the natural world, particularly, I would guess, Bardsey, although, even in nature, we are aware of time and change, as in the title poem, ‘Growth Rings’, about an earthquake – ‘Here, rock is reminded/how, before the mesa cities, before lights,/and freeways strung the desert,/it swirled like water in a plughole’.

The theme that seemed most prevalent to me was grief. From quiet domestic pieces of the death of a mother, memories of a father and most dreadfully grief for a child, to ones on a witness to a nuclear explosion or a death camp, these are poems that return and return to the fragility of life. I cannot as I read them think of any poet who writes quite so humanely and yet unflinchingly of death. I’ve barely scratched the surface of these poems, I know, but I want to read them again and again.

I can’t recommend this collection strongly enough.

Janet Thomas

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 ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.