Promoting Independent Literature #2
A selection from some fabulous independently produced poetry collections.
The P.I.L project is an alliance of independent publishers which aims to provide spaces to share links and reviews of work which is not marketed by the mainstream publishing industry. I for this second set of reviews for Sixty Odd Poems, I have selected three fascinating poetry collections for you to consider. I have also persuaded each of the five poets to allow me to add either a poem, or a poem sized extract below each review. Read, enjoy, and follow the links to get hold of a copy of your favourites.
If you write poetry it is more than worthwhile sending a sample of your work to Promote Indie Lit. It offers the chance to promote your published writing, easily and without fees. There really is no cost or risk involved. You could send stuff to me individually, and I may be tempted to review it, but by sending it to P.I.L. you are opening up the possibility of other people involved in publishing and web promotion to promote you too. What you send can only be seen by a small group of reviewers, and will not be shared beyond that group.
Contents
Breaking Ground - J.D.River
Breaking Ground is a refreshingly traditional collection of six pieces, which can be read as one poem split into six sections. It deals with the loss of childhood freedom innocence and the possibility of reclaiming it. In many ways it is reminiscent of Robert Browning’s Pied Piper of Hamelin; there are children who are deceived and ill treated, there is a wicked adult doing the deception, and the whole thing is rendered in strictly metered rhyme.
The use of rhyme is a brave move by River, as it is often frowned upon by would be serious poets, but here it is used skilfully, seldom seems to jar, and adds a fairytale element which sits beautifully with the subject matter.
Like all good fairytales, Breaking Ground can be enjoyed just for the story, or be considered more deeply. It works as a protest against political systems designed to favour and protect the wealthy, and it works as a consideration of what such systems do to the natural world. The image of the tree features throughout, with the natural tree that the children used to climb in, swing from and play below being eventually replaced by a shining metal version, a symbol of progress replacing something truly magical with something functional and less fascinating.
This small book could be enjoyed by people of all ages, and would also work well with younger people both inside and outside of a classroom environment, working as a springboard to discussion on childhood, working life, conservation exploitation and much more.
Extract from The Mirror Wall
Behind them stood a metal tree, With perfect leaves no wind could free. Its branches bent in silent grace, A frozen smile upon its face. "It’s just like when We used to climb that tree back then!" The Phantom Grinned “But this won’t die— It stands for progress, proud and high.” "The old was messy, wild and weak - But this is strength. This tree won’t creak No roots to trip, no leaves to fall, Just shining truth along this wall." **** Breaking Ground by J.D. River is available from Booktopia <<<
Small Remedies - Allison P. Brown
If Allison P. Brown had been around in days of yore, she would have been denounced as a witch. She would also have probably been revered in her neighbourhood for providing remedies for all manner of ailments and difficulties which, whilst having no scientific basis for success, would have at least given superstitious folk something to do to alleviate their misery. And aren’t we all superstitious in some way or another, even in today’s high tech times? Perhaps superstition is the refuge of the powerless, and we all feel a little powerless with the way things are going.
Allison’s small collection of eight remedies is a very welcome diversion, with eight poems offering relief from difficulties from insomnia to fascism, all beautifully presented with public domain images created by Maddelena Bouchard, a late eighteenth century Italian engraver of botanical and ornithological plates.
Whilst it may not be possible to find an actual cure for any of the maladies dealt with in these pieces, the discerning reader will certainly find something to think about, and through the process of thinking with Allison’s insights, they may come to a different understanding of their relationship to each particular subject.
A further delight is that this collection is available as a free download, so far from running the risk of being fleeced as if by a snake oil seller of old, you have nothing at all to lose by obtaining your own digital copy. Do it. You can thank me (and Allison) later.
Remedy for Impatience
Lay in the surf when the tide is lowest. Let each wave cover more of you and feel the shifting and erosion of the sand from the edges of where your body rests. Count the waves. Lose count. Say I will be a wave. I will reach, recede, break, and hide. I will be all waves; take a millenia to carve and sculpt with each breath. This and the water will calm the frantic creature inside—a firm, loving hand. You are not doing nothing—beauty is enough. Witness is enough. **** Small Remedies by Allison P. Brown is available from The Engine Idling <<<
Contact Light - Peter J. King
Contact Light contains poetry and artwork by Peter J. King. The book is divided into two sections, Science Fiction and Fantasy Myth & Horror. These are both genres that I grew up reading in the form of novels, and much of the poetry here chimes beautifully with the stuff that I recall reading back in the day.
The work has a pleasantly English feel to it. Children of the Night conjures features a struggle between citizens of earth and aliens which owes more to Arthur C Clarke or John Wyndham than Star Wars being more thought provoking than action packed. I particularly liked the introductory sequence,
…they came, in their beautiful ships (not the sleek smooth hulls that we’d expected; over-ornamented things they were, like armfuls of black roses, thorned — baroque but unexuberant)
Lost in Translation is actually set in the Cotswolds, with a menacing presence from a old bookshop haunting an insomniac tourist through the night streets.
There are also poems of time travel, zombie apocalypse, interplanetary travel and the exploration of strange new worlds to keep a devotee of Sci-Fi such as myself very satisfied.
The second section still maintains an englishness, with James Herbert like scenarios and the terror of animals. One in three brings an Ancient Mariner style approach to a man agonised by having killed a cat in a car accident, whilst both Vile Villanelle and Visitor more than a nod to the poetry work of Edgar Allen Poe , giving them a slightly more transatlantic feel.
The artwork often looks like the sort of things that are produced by splurging poster paints between two sheets of paper in a Primary School, but King uses the method to good effect limiting his palette to create striking Rorschach images . Corvid, which comes just before Visitor definitely seems to have a crow in it others are unnamed, but could contain the cat from One in Three, or various inhabitants of a nightmare menagerie.Contact light contains both poetry and artwork by Peter J King.
In many poems the horror and the science fiction are combined to good effect, one such piece is this one…
That Moment
Contact Light is published by the Alien Buddha Press on September 15th.
Six further poems by Peter will feature in next week’s Sixty Odd Poems
So happy you reviewed Small Remedies!