Reviews
Breaking Time by W. H. Petty
Pikestaff Pamphlets, Elton House, Harpford, Sidmouth, Devon EX10 ONH £3.00.
W. H. Petty's pamphlet, Breaking Time, is a treat. It contains beautifully-achieved poetry, the language full of actional imagery as in The Orchard is Crouching: 'Are these thick roots, thick-proud from the grass, / writhing and knuckling to be free?...' to 'The orchard is crouching, trees curled into claws...' An unusual angle is found in Sunbreak East of Yalding: '...his Winter / the orchard trees are tugging down the skies, / and the black hooks of branches take their hold. / the grey poles in the distant hop-fields / shimmer and the cowl of the oast-house / pecks at the bare sycamore, insistently...' Orchards are not his only subject; topics include the Louvre, painting at Christmas and the sensuous 'Afternoon Tea' where: '...the cakes arrive in yellow luxury. / Cream bursts on eager fork, and paperwork / is set aside. The scene's complete, arranged, / a valued scene / of symmetry and colour.' Darker imagery occurs in Material. '...the paint has fallen from the gate, / The gate is broken, bent on a twisted hinge....the old man smokes in bracered vacancy, / the grass grows tall about him. // "Are these yours?" Pipe is picked from teeth, "Mine." / Gate, cars, tree, cottage and tall grass: all his. // But his sun-face loosens, crumples as we speak.'
Page(s) 42
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