NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
WAVES 2006
edited by Liz Rowlands
Society of Civil & Public Service Writers
19 Arkley Court
Maidenhead
SL6 2YR
UK
ISSN 1475-1445
£2.50
WAVES 2007
Society of Civil & Public Service Writers
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This page last updated: 10th December 2007. 		WAVES 2006

WAVES 2006 is the thirty-sixth anthology by members of The Society of Civil and Public Service Writers' Poetry Workshop. Twenty-nine poets are represented in the volume: most poets with one poem, but some with two or three poems. The voices of these poets are distinctive and identifiable.

In the opening poem WESTERHAM, Anthony Roberts' voice is simple but vibrant as,

	Restored to thought
he saunters round a rose garden and hears the
	high pitched screaming
that announces the
	return of swifts
and the
	arrival of summer.
Norman Bissett reminisces about a student friend in ERIC. His talent is showcased in this intense, compact portrait of a friend that chose a different path in life and ends with the stark cold words
	Then, sudden darkness, and the arctic winter
	of your solitary room.
In this twenty-eight page volume there are few weak poems and many highly satisfying ones, such as Sylvia Newmann's pantoum WAITING FOR TRAINS, Barbara M. Stewart's POSTMORTEM ROOM, Joanna Crawford's WHITE IS NOT EVEN A COLOUR, and Angus Livingstone's MORS GRATIA ARTIS:
	death and art are bound together,
	sealed by time's stamp
The poets use language economically and creatively to challenge norms and comfort zones.

It was easy to relate to Terry James' poem MY WORLD with its pondering on the passage of time. Here impressions are captured in a language that is unsentimental, blunt and direct, where the authors asks,

	But whilst this world
	stands still,
	how can I stop old age
	creeping on?
I enjoyed Ivy Hudson's THE TWO-SIDED EURO with its description of
	Helios sun god,
	ruler of Rhodes
and its wry punch-line:
	our welcome
	depends on how many
	euros we are prepared
	to sacrifice to him.
Steve Glason, in SKETCHBOOK, deals with the subject of changes in the city of London with understatement, suggestion and subtlety. The poem builds by a series of impressions of the alterations made to the city. The protagonist moves from the "London Blitz", "Concrete Cubes" and the "sacrilege around St Pauls" until he reaches Temple Bar where he sees
	A symphony of mellow stone
	Restored with tender loving care.
Adrian Green wanders through a Japanese Garden in his poem MORNING. The poem gives a delicious, if brief, feeling of being intensely alive. It teems with images — often seemingly freely associated — sunrise, reflections, the pond, dew, leaves, petals, birds, and the dawn. MOUSE HOLE, by Albert Thornton, presents a stark straightforward minimalist picture of modern-day children who know all about cyber-space, but next to nothing about the industrial heritage of their village:
	They only feel the branch
	bare with the wind,
	hear the cold click
	of forefinger on mouse
	as the falling winding gear
	weaves its black shroud
	round their forgotten village.
Bill Torrie Douglas' poem 23 DECEMBER is an even and certain articulation as he writes about Christmas:
	Dusk inhabits
	the afternoon, creeping in
	as if trying to deceive.
	Islands on the firth become vague,
	horses on the waves become whiter.
I like Ivy Hudson's poem NEIGHBOURS. In it she sends up her experience with neighbours:
	Shanks live next door,
	with their pitmatic father
	to be snubbed by mother
	as 'not good enough'.
	But at scything time old man Shanks
	from his prim and proper garden watches
	while I'm clad in skimpy shorts and top,
	bringing order.
Myfanwy Morgan's poem SPRING FIRES 2001 relates her own experience of returning from holiday with the experience of those caught up in the terror of 9/11. Her control is confident and she develops images effectively:
	in that sullen spring of blight
	other fires were burning,
	our journeys shadowed then
	in slaughter-light
Some poems, like LIVERPOOL OF DREAMS (Keith Scott), FREE TO FLOAT (Ethel Corduff) and US (John Bird), as well as Bob Crockett's A HEAVY YOKE, have a compassion that makes them powerful and insightful.

Muriel Stammers' rhymed poem NATO EXERCISE is at times witty and revealing with a satisfying end as

	Cape Wrath returns to Nature's restless peace.
Charles Harry Butler's poem THE WIND has some appealing images, but they are images that provide a quick hit rather than a lasting and intriguing touch. The rhyme takes us back to the poet's childhood days
	When we holidayed by the shore
but now, at the age of eighty-four he remembers
	the times that have gone
	The endless summer days past
Liz Rowlands' unusual poem PHANTASMAGORIA is
A poem composed solely of words that can be derived from the title.
The images are appealing and the poem would work well in performance. Anthony Roberts' TRAIN JOURNEY sees the poet relaxing
	after a family week-end
	In Glasgow.
The images challenge and gain power through surprising the reader our of their expectations:
	We reach Peterborough, the sun has set,
	And darkness follows on the after-glow . . .
	In my mind's eyes I look back to the view
	Of sheep, and think of Bach's unhurried theme.
Anthologies and collections suffer from the weight of imposed expectations. One thumbs through the pages of an anthology with explicit expectations, particularly where the poets are well-known names. It is not possible within this review to remark on all the poets collected here but the strength of this anthology lies in its capacity to bring together a variety of dissenting, reflective contributions from a variety of writers — writers who've won the respect of many for their ability to generate dialogue within the wider community.

reviewer: Patricia Prime
WAVES 2007

This is the 37th anthology by members of The Society of Civil and Public Service Writers Poetry Workshop, edited by Liz Rowlands. 25 poets are represented, poems totalling 45.

Considering that a year offers a good opportunity to use the best contributions, I was disappointed with the general standard of the poems. I found some depth of atmosphere and presentation in THE ROWING BOAT by BILL TORRIE DOUGLAS in which the poet deliberates on the possible passengers of the shored boat to and from a monastery in a lake:

	On the near shore, the rowing boat waits
	to convey the next novitiate or connotes
	that one has abandoned the calling,
	declined to make the sacrifice,
	returned to the secular world . . .
I also liked SEPTEMBER SONG by NORMAN BISSETT:
	The leaves fall golden
	past our window — memories
	accumulating.

reviewer: Eric Ratcliffe