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.

Friday 6 December 2013

"The Colour of Love" by Jonathan Steffen (Acumen, 2011)

The author of this pamphlet won the King's College James Prize and T.R.Henn Prize (both for creative writing) while at Cambridge, and was awarded a Travelling Studentship for English Poetry on graduating. Here are some endings

  • "Rainbow" - "Yes, I collect rainbows when I am out and about. It comes very naturally to me./ Here is another one for you."
  • "Kipper Tie" - "Little imagining that within our own brief lifetimes/ Our beloved colour photographs would fade/ And all our youth dissolve/ Into a gradually receding blur."
  • "The Colour of Grief" - "Grief has no measure, no shape, and no horizon./ Perhaps only an artist/ Who could create a colour that is beyond all colour/ Could depict the colour of grief."
  • "Window on the World" - "I would highly recommend stained glass as a medium./ It requires considerable craftsmanship/ And painstaking attention to detail,/ But you can always re-use the pieces/ When your entire view of things/ Has been shattered yet one more time."
  • "Studio" - "just in case an angel/ Should pass through my north-facing window/ And perch for one instant on my workbench,/ Its wings ablaze with colours/ For which only God knows the names"

I think there are too many colours in this book.

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