JOANNA ASHWELL: BETWEEN MOONLIGHT Hub Editions Longholm East Bank Wingland Sutton Bridge Spalding Lincolnshire PE12 9YS UK ISBN 1 903746 57 4 £5 Read a poem by Joanna Ashwell on Aabye's Baby. Web design by This page last updated: 10th December 2007. |
JOANNA ASHWELL: BETWEEN MOONLIGHT | |
BETWEEN MOONLIGHT is a beautifully produced small collection of haiku and similar poems from Joanna Ashwell. The poems are arranged two to a page, giving each poem the space it deserves without wasting too much space. Some of the haiku focus entirely on the natural world, my favourites being:with the setting sun shadows pirouetting in and out of webs.and this one, where the shape of the poem follows the meaning of the words and the actual scene described: sand drifting eastward to the shoreOther poems focus on the relationship between the human world and nature, offering illuminating meditations. Some of my favourites of these include: the only movement outside my window — a discarded paper bag chasing the clouds mixing paints at dusk to catch the blue sky slowly darkeningYet other poems focus more entirely on the human world, as separate from nature, though still influenced by it: too much beer lost in a swirl starlit avenues dripping dry banished to the kitchen the dog sniffing at the cake.My overall favourites manage to convey a real sense of mystery: scattered shells upon the shore tidal dreams as the footsteps disappear whispers multiply among a web of stars.There seem to be a lot of people writing haiku at the minute and much discussion of what exactly a haiku is and should be. Personally I have learnt a lot about haiku form over the past year or so, but the most important thing for me remains whether a haiku captures a 'haiku moment' encapsulating something significant within the observation of a small moment in time. Using that perspective then most of the haiku in this collection succeed beautifully and it is a book well worth reading. | ||
reviewer: Juliet Wilson. |