JOHN TANNER: PIECES Cinnamon Press Ty Meiron Glan yr Afon Tanygrisiau Blaenau Ffestiniog Gwynedd LL41 3SU UK ISBN 0 9549433 8 4 £7.99 email Cinnamon Press visit the website of Cinnamon Press Web design by This page last updated: 10th December 2007. |
JOHN TANNER: PIECES | |
PIECES is a well thought-out and presented book of poems. The opening sequence on childhood includes topics such as a trip to the seaside and the Korean War, with a variety of other topics in between. There follows a poem called JACK, which hinges on the social framework of the 'honest day's work' which ends this way:Pause. Look up. Beyond the crab of the gantry crane, tall windows, cathedral windows, spattering us with soiled light.John Tanner has a good sense of rhythm and the ability to leave some space for the reader. He also has a keen sense of humour. He bravely takes on some deep and sobering topics and handles them sensitively. John Tanner skims times and places and the detail hones you in. The love of language is apparent in this piece from PROMISED LAND: All night you were crossing the Great Plains: they lay down pale and fevered, dreamed themselves sucking at the moon.John Tanner has much to offer and I expect to see more of his work. | ||
reviewer: Doreen King. |