Fossil-Box, The

Reviews / Votes

Preserved traces of things - forms, language, memory - are what inform many of the poems in The Fossil-box. The volume is fascinated by the urgency of ground and belonging. Several pieces focus on the land- and seascapes around the author's home in Wales. At other places in the collection the 'abundant centre' of rediscovery is the Forest of Dean, a prolific site of formation and recollection, the 'slow lens' between childhood and adulthood, the source of the 'impending past'.

There's a rare and intense musicality in 'The Fossil-Box'. Richard Marggraf Turley demonstrates a real appreciation of the sonic possibilities of English, and the delicious rolling cadences, reflecting 'the Severn's soluble tithes', of this book are to be relished.
Here indeed is writing that deserves to be read aloud, springing from an acute awareness of history and what the poet owes to it. 'The Fossil-Box' is a marvellous exploration of roots and our inescapable ancestries.
Robert Minhinnick


Launch in Aberystwyth; readings in Forest of Dean, at poetry journal launches etc; press releases and review copies including leading Welsh journals and media. -- Publisher: Cinnamon Press This exciting collection from Richard Marggraf Turley is vibrant and imaginative. The Fossil Box is an exploration in poetry of the areas which are familiar to the poet, Ceredigion in west Wales and the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, both areas of outstanding natural beauty and historical richness.

There is an elegance in his approach and style as he focuses sometimes on the micro world of nature ? as in 'Berries' or 'The Blue Tit'. He describes the jellyfish in 'Sea Jellies' cleverly as 'the colour of cataracts'. Each poem is jewel-like in its structure and content ? an example of this quality is 'Sunbreak' or the title poem, 'The Fossil-Box', where he uses neat phrases to capture time passing.

His focus shifts into a historical context in later poems such as 'The Raid', which focuses on wartime events in France ? again his subject and language is specific and neatly constructed ? and in his 'Giants' series and 'Seven Bridges of Koenisberg'. There is a feeling of having stepped into many different worlds in these poems and staying to observe the unfolding events.

This is a collection to be valued and enjoyed for the skill and resonant quality of the poems. It has a rich atmosphere, full of life and beauty. -- Clare Maynard @ www.gwales.com
 
This exciting collection from Richard Marggraf Turley is vibrant and imaginative. <i>The Fossil Box</i> is an exploration in poetry of the areas which are familiar to the poet, Ceredigion in west Wales and the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, both areas of outstanding natural beauty and historical richness.

There is an elegance in his approach and style as he focuses sometimes on the micro world of nature ? as in 'Berries' or 'The Blue Tit'. He describes the jellyfish in 'Sea Jellies' cleverly as 'the colour of cataracts'. Each poem is jewel-like in its structure and content ? an example of this quality is 'Sunbreak' or the title poem, 'The Fossil-Box', where he uses neat phrases to capture time passing.

His focus shifts into a historical context in later poems such as 'The Raid', which focuses on wartime events in France ? again his subject and language is specific and neatly constructed ? and in his 'Giants' series and 'Seven Bridges of Koenisberg'. There is a feeling of having stepped into many different worlds in these poems and staying to observe the unfolding events.

This is a collection to be valued and enjoyed for the skill and resonant quality of the poems. It has a rich atmosphere, full of life and beauty. -- Clare Maynard @ www.gwales.com