NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

Printed on good quality paper and bound with string rather than staples which always end up going rusty, Island is joy to hold.

This issue is substitled SONG OF STONE. The choir is led by Gerrie Fellows who tells of

	Nickel ore from New Caledonia
	Iron ore from Bourail District
	bottled in glass for the sour stomachs
	...

	quartzite from Wanaka
	...

	Flint from Kentish fields   dark
	as a breaking wave   an English spring

	...
	pebbled sandstone from Stac Pollaidh
	Basalt from Troternish   quartz flowering in it

Strange to be so moved by stone

As well as poems and short prose pieces, there are quotes such as this by Hugh Latimer from a sermon preached before Edward VI

The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling

Even the notes on contributers are interesting in this magazine. Each author was asked to name their favourite stone places. Locations in the West of Scotland predominate but mention is made of Brimham Rocks, Yorkshire and Kiwaiyu Island, Kenya.

The magazine is a gem — get a copy for your treasure-shelf!

Island is a publication of writing inspired by nature, consisting of new poetry, short prose and quotes from poets such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and environmentalists such as John Muir. It is beautifully produced, bound in textured card and string with the pages of poetry being interleaved with transparent pages with delicate line drawings of feathers by Jean Johnston. The layout is beautiful and there is plenty of space. Actually if we are to develop an environmental conscience perhaps there is too much space, particularly in the liberal use of blank pages. I have seen several copies of Island, and this generous use of space, combined with the transparent illustrated sheets, always gives me an initial sense of 'style over substance?'.

However there is generally substance enough in the poetry to allay this suspicion. This, the MIGRATING SKIES issue, contains poetry about and inspired by birds and skies. There is a lot of beautiful imagery here, as in Jane Hirshfield's POSSIBILITY: AN ASSAY:

	with the colours, acute and tender, of a Flemish painting.
	Corals, blues.

The more of this killing you do, the less panic, the smoother the action, but no less heartache.

	once fledged, her leaves
	pierce your heart with their tender green
	and in their midst the fruit ripens
	blue-black, beautiful
	gentled with bloom
	like shadow on snow

	They have flown half way across the world to find
	their summer haunt become a desert ocean.
	They raise no young to teach the way of stars.