Just Arrived: “Not Saying Goodbye at Gate 21” by Kathleen Jones
I’ve had a bit of a binge on buying poetry books lately and hope to get through reading a few of them over the Christmas-New Year break.
And I dearly wanted to buy this one by my fellow Tuesday Poet, Kathleen Jones, as I knew it was the award-winning manuscript from the Templar Poetry Prize last year.
It is a beautiful little book, too, with the lovely cover art and the French-style folded in flaps (I like them!) I can also tell you that I’ve had a sneak preview and love what I’ve seen—just peeking quickly!—of the poems. I am very much looking forward to sitting down with it, away from the hurly burly, and just enjoying.
So what does the inside cover say:
“In these poems Kathleen Jones shows us departure and attachments, journeys and encounters; some come from an attachment to place, the mountains and lakes of Cumbria, others from the longing to be rooted in one place, and feelings that tussle with a passion for travel, new experiences and a fascination with the lives of people met. And there are also different kinds of departure, more personal; the breakdown of relationships, the death of close relatives.
In Not Saying Goodbyet at Gate 21 the departure gate has a magical threshold, the past on one side and the future on the other.”
And on the back:
“All the poems in this hard-hitting, but also beautiful book are good. Her language is spare, the words being quiet servants of the images” — Anna Adams
“Darker poems … penetrating in their exploration of domestic tensions and responsibilities” — PQR
“Not Saying Goodbye…” is now at the top of my to-read pile and I am looking forward very much to doing so!
Tim, if what I have seen from my ‘peek inside’ is indicative of the entire collection, I think you are going to enjoy the read very much!