NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
The Third Half
K.T. Publications
16 Fane Close
Stamford
Lincolnshire
PE9 1HG
UK
ISBN 0 907759 69 6
£4.95
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This page last updated: 14th December 2007. 		The Third Half #39

The work of four writers CHRIS SCRIVEN, MARIO PETRUCCI, MICHAEL BANGERTER and RAYMOND HUMPHREYS is displayed. They are allotted sections in the Contents named THE FIRST HALF, THE SECOND HALF,THE THIRD HALF and THE FOURTH HALF which seems needlessly confusing, considering the cover title.

CHRIS SCRIVEN is credited with 18 poems under the additional, more relevant section title EPIC LOVE AND OTHER SMALL AFFAIRS. Three of these are English sonnets, two suffering from faulty end rhymes in the octave (breast/left, chest/address) but SONNET 6 (MY PRECIOUS GIRL IS LOST ...) has not got such faults. However, all of them show that the continuity of expression is suitable, continuous and well maintained. From SONNET 1:

	I'm offering my heart upon a plate,
	No garnish to disguise my true intent;
	So take it in its plain but tender state 
	And know that what you have is truly meant.
On the whole his sonnet forms tend to deepen the impact of expression, although in other poems there is more freedom for philosophic musings: some are quite telling, and Scriven seems to fit in mind naturally with stylistic translations of Omar Khayyam or Abu'l-Ala. From SOMETHING OR NOTHING:
	Although the first scratch didn't soothe the itch
	And though one scratch card hasn't made us rich,
	The apple has more flesh to it than core,
	The table's laid, the wine is there to pour.
MARIO PETRUCCI provides a short article written much earlier on a visit to the coastline of Devon and Cornwall in HARDY — THE CORNISH CONNECTION, with special reference to St Juliot in the Boscastle area, once visited by Thomas Hardy, at whose church he met Emma whom he subsequently married. Readers will find delight in the description of the church and the story of Emma's influence. Under SEPTEMBER IMPRESSIONS he now displays his poems BEER HEAD, DEVON; DEVON COAST; ST JULIOT CHURCH, BOSCASTLE; VALLEY OF THE ROCKS, NEAR CLOVELLY. All interesting but a drawn-out verbal ramble POSTSCRIPT explaining his 'then' and 'now' thoughts is a dilution which was better avoided. Personally I did not feel attracted to his poems, perhaps not his best, in view of his various poetry appointments and other achievements.

We come to MICHAEL BANGERTER. Here are 32 poems, half haiku, and a prose brevity THE WAITING LANE, which commences attractively about a school, but the sequence was not smooth or logical enough to appeal to me. All these have just been tumbled in without editorial control, or give that appearance. Attractive non-standard haiku were

	clouds hide the moon
	her face shines — clear
		in my mind's eye
and
	Faces in the Boat Race,
	1913 — their agony 
	joyful
Of the poems, LESSENING seemed good: This concludes
	And later, when
	the letters edged in black
	get lodged with intent
	at the back of books
	we do not open,
	and an early learnt faith
	is now unlearnt
	and friends serve life
	in photo albums, there is,
	it seems, a lessening
	even of the need
	to be wanted.
WHERE SIMPLETONS GO has some sharp remarks spoiled by bad spelling ('Sacrificed on the alter ofIQ').

Finally to RAYMOND HUMPHREYS. Three articles and 15 poems, 5 under SCENES FROM A SEASON OF MADNESS. From OLD BEDLAM:

	Try a good old-fashioned caning
	even padlocks and a chaining
	or a harness and swing-chair,
	then collars and well-shaved hair.
	So once inside, this doors for locking:
	electrodes make things really shocking.
A readable sequence but flawed by no apostrophe in 'doors'.

ECLIPSED is his best story, in which he displays some skill in depicting pre-eclipse 'atmosphere':

Totality swept in upon all of us like the shadow of some monstrous, black bird. The street lights in Newlyn, then in Penzance, came on. A thousand camera flash guns popped, pointlessly. All about, there was a sepia-clad silence.
THE YELLOW OMNIBUS story is worth a quick read.

THE THIRD HALF #39 can be proud of sponsoring traditional styles in the modern environment, without cutting corners to be trendy but needs to attract better poetry. It is good value and clearly printed, but needs editorial attention here and there.

reviewer: Eric Ratcliffe.