A Mystic Orchard whose word trees bear the most exquisite and ripe fruits. A crop that explores the berries of family, the hips of trauma, the drupes of love and relationships, dripping with juice and sweetness.
And so Jonathan Koven’s collection of poems has the poetry hungry salivating until the last page when the willing reader will sit back, utter a sigh, completely satiated.
The poems are lyrical, pastoral, ethereal. The language and ideas are elaborate and reading aloud is, in my opinion, essential. (But then I think ALL poetry should be read aloud!)
The collection is cohesive as themes and images recur. There are some prose pieces alongside the poetry which just seem to fit perfectly amongst the verse. There is a complexity to the expression of ideas which set the reader contemplating the fabric of life.
You get a sense of someone entrusting you with their deepest, innermost thoughts and feelings which gives the collection an intimacy that is immersive. I also had the sense that each piece is so very carefully and lovingly crafted and I was reminded of Sylvia Plath.
As I read I compiled a collection of my favourite lines and expressions ;
‘……….silence will take
The shape of an old slow morning….’
‘Spread me wide
With this brand of summer.’
‘….unfurl as a poem
No one reads….’
‘We wear November….’
‘having waited to understand charm in the sorrow
Of waiting…..’
‘millennium of moments…’
‘….sonnets of patience….’
‘Childhood a jewel.’
‘…….hideous blanket of ineloquence.’
If I had to state my favourite poems I think I would choose Insomnia Wish, Our Talisman and I Read a Name in the Sun but that’s always a tricky business, narrowing them down! I think I would like to take this book to a secluded area of natural beauty and read the poems aloud to the birds and the butterflies, perhaps the flowers and trees, maybe an orchard even!
Thank you to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press and to the poet himself for a signed copy.
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