Reviews
Thresholds
Limited edition, enquiries, contact A.C. Clarke, 0/1 25 Craigmillar Road, Glasgow G42 9JZ, tel: 0141 649 7365.
Sadly, Jean Sergeant died recently. Her quiet poems tended to be eclipsed by her better-known husband, Howard Sergeant's, contribution to the poetry world. Over the years her work came into its own. A small valedictory group is to be found in Thresholds, which includes her excellent To Paul Klee. This celebrates the artist in a poem full of lyricism and movement. Descriptions of paintings don't always work but this evokes it beautifully. As a tribute to her this poem is printed in full:
You hold earth in your hand,
water falls from our fingertips.
In the narrow slip
between finger and thumb
green-veined leaves unfold.
A bird has come
with a straw in its mouth
to build a nest
in your palm's curve
On one finger you balance
an egg that will sing.
And when your hand touches
those who hold nothing
but barren height,
black shadow,
maybe in a sleight of time
for them your earth will grow
a pattern of seeds
your water feed a green garden,
and your leaves dance on bark;
and in a forest of springs
your bird will make
a ring of nests, and like a skylark
over winter furrows,
your egg will sing
the dark to light.
Other poems in this fine collection include Susan Skinner, The Hedge where / the hedge is a human thing, companion, listener, / its green leaves pricked for sighs and whispering...' (from The Hedge) and Barbara Rennie's moving For Ian Dubh: 'You were my black-haired lad / love, when I met you . / Black hair is white now, my love, / Age come to fret you...'
Page(s) 38-39
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