In the Telling

Reviews / Votes

Cinnamon Press have here assembled an anthology of poems by more than 60 poets, inspired by storytelling and to 'convince us that narrative poetry is currently thriving'.

Some of the stories come from classical myth - Medea opens the collection in 'Beneath the Weave'. Irish epic gives us Marilyn Jenkins' 'Women like Wolves', a bloody but sensual story of the power of song. Many draw on characters in popular fairy tales - Briar Rose (suffering post excessive sleep syndrome), Red Riding Hood playing dangerous games, Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel and Cinderella - but twisted into new shapes by the modern world. Some poets re-think biblical themes, especially Adam and Eve. Elizabeth Austen's 'It Didn't Happen That Way' exonerates Eve, Anne Caldwell's 'After the Flood' is an unusual love song.

Some of the stories are more tributes to other artists - Monet's poplars, Madam Bovary's 'drowning love' and Mim Darlington's beautiful tribute to Williamson, 'The Invention of Tarka'. A few are simply a personal moment celebrated, like Fred Johnston's lyrical 'Kilkenny'. A few take a comic turn - 'The Arachnophobe' by Jane McLaughlin - or are totally bizarre like 'The Green Pea falls in Love' (Geoff Lowe) or 'Meltdown' (Bill Trub). To me 'narrative poetry' is not, on the whole, what we have here. The narratives are generally assumed, only to be subverted or made symbolic. It would have been interesting to see more actual narrative and perhaps less deliberate obscurity.

Personal narratives like Elizabeth Speller's 'The Gloucestershire Argonauts' and Stephen Delbos's 'Camellia Assamica' reach out from the details of personal experience, vividly recreated and both work well. Pam Thompson's 'The Fairy-tale Heroine Leaps from the Page' captures the attitude of many of the poems - that telling the tales is no longer enough.

And there are tales. 'Gretel takes Control' by Rachel Bentham is a witty re-telling, rich in detail and revelling in the physical sensations of the characters. Marilyn Donovan's 'The Wild Swans' and Heather Harrison's 'Seal Wife' enter into their stories and, through their character's truly felt emotions, make them live again. -- Caroline Clark @ www.gwales.com
 
Cinnamon Press have here assembled an anthology of poems by more than 60 poets, inspired by storytelling and to 'convince us that narrative poetry is currently thriving'.

Some of the stories come from classical myth - Medea opens the collection in 'Beneath the Weave'. Irish epic gives us Marilyn Jenkins' 'Women like Wolves', a bloody but sensual story of the power of song. Many draw on characters in popular fairy tales - Briar Rose (suffering post excessive sleep syndrome), Red Riding Hood playing dangerous games, Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel and Cinderella - but twisted into new shapes by the modern world. Some poets re-think biblical themes, especially Adam and Eve. Elizabeth Austen's 'It Didn't Happen That Way' exonerates Eve, Anne Caldwell's 'After the Flood' is an unusual love song.

Some of the stories are more tributes to other artists - Monet's poplars, Madam Bovary's 'drowning love' and Mim Darlington's beautiful tribute to Williamson, 'The Invention of Tarka'. A few are simply a personal moment celebrated, like Fred Johnston's lyrical 'Kilkenny'. A few take a comic turn - 'The Arachnophobe' by Jane McLaughlin - or are totally bizarre like 'The Green Pea falls in Love' (Geoff Lowe) or 'Meltdown' (Bill Trub). To me 'narrative poetry' is not, on the whole, what we have here. The narratives are generally assumed, only to be subverted or made symbolic. It would have been interesting to see more actual narrative and perhaps less deliberate obscurity.

Personal narratives like Elizabeth Speller's 'The Gloucestershire Argonauts' and Stephen Delbos's 'Camellia Assamica' reach out from the details of personal experience, vividly recreated and both work well. Pam Thompson's 'The Fairy-tale Heroine Leaps from the Page' captures the attitude of many of the poems - that telling the tales is no longer enough.

And there are tales. 'Gretel takes Control' by Rachel Bentham is a witty re-telling, rich in detail and revelling in the physical sensations of the characters. Marilyn Donovan's 'The Wild Swans' and Heather Harrison's 'Seal Wife' enter into their stories and, through their character's truly felt emotions, make them live again. -- Caroline Clark @ www.gwales.com