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.

Tuesday, 31 August 2010

"Shag" by Sue Vickerman (Arrowhead Press, 2003)

40 pages (22 of poetry) for 4 pounds - a book at a booklet price. Some end-rhyme. As the title suggests, birds figure quite a lot, but so do relationships and church ceremonies. No poems stand out as excellent or bad. Even within poems, there are few climaxes or dud lines - the standard's uniformly pretty good. When, as in "Apeshit", something is narrated, both the language and the characters end up slipping away. I'd better include a quote so here's a fairly typical ending (from "Stonehaven Harbour") - "White sails kite over the water; a child complains;/ the golden retriever swims slowly back to base/ with the stick. Waiting is hardest at weekends."

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