NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
LEE HARWOOD: EVENING STAR
Leafe Press
4 Cohen Close
Chilwell
Nottingham
NG9 6RW
UK
ISBN 0 9535401 0 3
£3.50 [$7]
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This page last updated: 11th December 2007. 		LEE HARWOOD: EVENING STAR

32 page, nicely produced A5 poetry booklet from the well-known poet, Lee Harwood, who is always at home exploring the edges of contemporary poetry. The first poem is the very beautiful SALTWATER. This poem alludes to the nature of the sea and concludes:

	The phosphorus glitter of the sea
	From the Greek
	phos (light)-phoros (bringing)

	Like her
	as she came and went

	Morning star
The very early death of a loved one is poignantly portrayed. The baby gives light then disappears like a morning star. The use of language is moving and effective, and in this booklet we find the sea, gardens, workmen and train journeys. The tone is one of calm throughout, with striking landscape images such as CWMNANTCOL:
	massive slabs of rock,
	like ribs down the sides of the cwm,
	clawed and scoured, ground and polished
	by the glaciers of "Ancient Times".
	And now silver birch, oaks, tender mosses
	grow in the shadows of these purple grey bluffs.
The landscape has been worked at, shaped and reshaped. Rocks are given physical references — "Clawed and scoured" but then they are taken over by "tender mosses". Harwood seems to be at his best with this heightened, descriptive style as in HAMPTON COURT SHELTER:
	That hue of light you find on a summer afternoon
	when a rain storm batters the gardens, stitches the heavy river.
	Like dusk but not.
Harwood has a keen sense of the joy of imagery coupled with a talent for detailed observation. He is an inventive and sensual poet and his poems demand rereading. Recommended. Take this one to bed with you.

reviewer: Doreen King.