Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Monday, 17 January 2011

"Drawing Water" by Ann Atkinson (Smith/Doorstep, 2009)

A pamphlet. "The Bats" is fine, and I liked "Petrifying Well" too. Several other poems have their moments: "Venice, October" wears its symbolism on its sleeve; "Then we drove on" probably does enough for its length but is one of perhaps too many where people silently share a special moment. "High Wire Walk" is nearly the longest piece (35 lines) but is also the most inconsequential.

"The Bats" begins with "The summer after you had gone was hot". The narrator woke and saw "the bat, a pipistrelle, cicling/ like a particle of light", then let it out, 'felt it pass my face". They keep another bat in the freezer - "I take it out from time to time to look/ and stroke it, feel it soften, put it back."

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