A collection of poems from the former editor of Planet.

Casgliad o gerddi gan gyn-olygydd Planet.

I love John Barnie's new collection. Instead of dipping in randomly, I chose to read it from cover to cover and was really pleased I had done so, since it gave me a strong sense of the way in which these wonderful poems build upon each other, drawing together the varied threads of Barnie's thoughts and ideas to create a richly-textured whole, ending in the defining last lines of 'Chatting with Wordsworth':

‘ . . . but 'joy', old-
fashioned joy, will do.’

For joy would certainly do, and undoubtedly be more abundant, if we could live our lives simply rather than complicating them with our need to analyse, understand, explain, control – with, in fact, our ‘inalienable right to be unhappy’.

Barnie's vivid, luminous images draw our attention to the beauty of the natural world: owls ‘staring out of daytime trees/like china on a mantelpiece’; the ‘Victorian waist’ of a wasp; ‘a red kite swaying/in the wind’; ‘shrimp so transparent you can see the whirrings/of their machinery.’ Perfect, sharply-focused word pictures that recreate the moment of experience through description rather than explanation. This is the heaven in which we live and which our troubled minds cause us to devalue and desecrate:

‘ . . . Do you not
know you are a mirror,
the angel replied; Look
into yourself, and see.’
'The river runs slowly . . . '

Gentle and compassionate, these poems explore what it means to be human and encourage – even exhort – us to live joyously in the present, for ‘life never is past tense’.

Highly recommended – read and enjoy.

Suzy Ceulan Hughes

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment 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.