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.

Wednesday, 19 March 2025

"Plot and counter-plot" by Helena Nelson (Shoestring Press, 2010)

Some sonnets - loose and tight ones appear on facing pages early on, establishing the stylistic flexibility. There are rhyming pieces that are like Stevie Smith or folk songs - "O" and "Oh" are used. There are short pieces like "Teller" (which has an "ab cd ad cb" rhyme scheme). There are psychological dialogues like "The Hill" where a man leaves a woman to climb a hill alone. It ends with "He doesn't ask about the view from the top./ She doesn't tell him she didn't reach the top.// She might think, 'This is the story of my life'/ but although this the story of her life// that is not what she thinks./ She thinks something else."

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