Hapy to second Alan's mention of Martin Corless-Smith's _OF PISCATOR_, and
to provide a sample as requested. I'd echo most of Alan's comments -
adding that there's more than a trace of I. Walton in the mix, as the
title suggests, and some lovely linguistic echoing of folk/nursery/
childhood speech and rhyme, and a bit of welsh border-speak too. Concerns
embodied in a line like "Sir Green: Tree surgeon" are ones I can relate
to... I like the little playlets which make up the title sequence, it
gives Martin a chance to vary tone far more freely. Here's a chunk - the
last 4 stanzas - of "Dead Mary":
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Piers
Pearl
Sir Green: Tree surgeon
where the branches fell
Dead Mary: Who can tell
(her head intact)
my corpses own indifference
then glistening
the curled track
dissipate
Governess: weak of breakfast tea
things the grapefruit rind
jam on the cloth
Dead Mary: decked in fiddle fern
my lover leave
small pecks mean
I do not leave
I do not mean
unlikely to be me
Governess: I grow into teeth
summer of 57
village in France in Germany village in Kent
"Idiot children at the Institute"
Dead Mary: Saw her impassive
saw her thumbs
deaths double
steps escarpment
garment
larva curled up in its curve
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I can only add that the book's priced at $15.95. I know that U. Georgia is
distributed in the UK, but I don't have an address or a sterling price.
Your local bookseller will be pleased to help.
___________________________________________________________
Richard Caddel
Durham University Library, Stockton Rd., Durham DH1 3LY, UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 (0)191 374 3044 Fax: +44 (0)191 374 7481
WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dul0ric
"Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write."
- Basil Bunting
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